Greater Victoria’s rental-housing market remains expensive, though there are more units available, according to online rental marketplace Padmapper.
The service, which links apartment hunters with available units, said in the markets it serves, Victoria ranks sixth in the nation for average rent of a onebedroom apartment.
Padmapper, which currently lists 176 units as available in Victoria, said the average price of a one-bedroom unit in its listings was $1,390 a month. In top-spot Toronto, the average one-bedroom monthly rent was $2,300.
Vancouver ranked second at $2,200 and Burnaby was third $1,570.
Not much has changed in three years.
In 2016, when Padmapper started ranking Canadian cities, Victoria was fourth behind Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary on its list of the least-affordable markets for one-bedroom apartments.
The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in Victoria, based on listings on Padmapper and other sites in 2016, was $1,075, versus $1,700 in Vancouver, $1,350 in Toronto and $1,100 in Calgary.
The increase in prices in that time comes despite a significant increase in the number of rental units available, and a slight improvement in the vacancy rate.
A recent Colliers International study showed Greater Victoria’s vacancy levels this summer rose to 1.2 per cent for one- and two-bedroom units compared to 0.7 per cent at the same time last year.
That increase is down to the amount of purpose-built rental housing in the region.
There are currently 2,750 purpose-built rental units under construction in Greater Victoria, and another 8,145 in the planning stages.
At the same time there are 2,180 condos being built and 4,125 others planned.
