Victoria rent prices plateau for single-bedroom units and decrease for two-bedrooms
With students flocking to Victoria to attend UVic and Camosun this September, rent prices have remained somewhat stagnant month-over-month. The average cost of rent has plateaued for singlebedroom units, and actually decreased slightly for two-bedroom units. According to a recent analysis of the rental market in Victoria by Zumper, an online platform to find available rental units, one-bedroom units’ cost have risen by 0% since July.The average rent of a one-bedroom unit has remained at $2,160 per month. However, since August of last year, onebedroom unit’s rent has gone up by 5.9%.For two-bedroom units, the average price for rent has gone down by 1.7% since last month to $2,850 per month. Similarly to one-bedroom units, on a yearover-year basis two-bedroom units’ rent has gone up by 3.6%. Victoria continues to be the fourth most expensive city to live in across Canada, with Vancouver being the most expensive, followed by Toronto and Burnaby. In Vancouver, a one-bedroom unit costs an average of $2,690 while a two bedroom costs around $3,800. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum is Saskatoon, the least expensive major city to rent in throughout Canada. In Saskatoon, a one-bedroom unit costs around $1,270 and a two-bedroom costs $1,480 per month on average. Across Canada as a whole, Zumper says the national rent index showed that the median rents for both one-bedroom and two-bedroom units both decreased by 0.1% last month. The national average rent for one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms are $1,900 and $2,339, respectively. Year-over-year across Canada, one-bedrooms rent is up 1.6%, while twobedrooms have increased 0.1%. Zumper says that the overall rental market looks to be stabilizing as new housing supplies are completed, mortgage rates decline and population growth slows.Recently, Zumper has signed an agreement with Statistics Canada to help them collect data on the rise of rental prices across the country. According to a report done in early 2024 by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Greater Victoria has a vacancy rate of only 1.6%—one ofthe lowest in the country. Have you been house-hunting lately? Do these numbers reflect what you’ve seen on the market?