It’s no secret that living in Kelowna, B.C. can be expensive, and that includes rent with one of the highest rates in Canada.
In a new report, Kelowna is listed in the top 15 most expensive rental markets in Canada.
“It’s a shortage of availability of product, there’s more people coming here than are leaving and as a result, it’s just tighter and tighter,” said Century 21 managing partner Max Carbone.
A new report from Rentals.ca determined that Kelowna is the 13th most expensive city to rent.
The report states that the average price to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Kelowna is $1,952. A 14.3 per cent increase in the prices from this time last year.
The price to rent a two-bedroom didn’t jump quite as much. Only a 2.6 per cent increase from 2022, priced at $2,597 a month.
Rentals.ca listed Vancouver as the most expensive city in the country with an average cost of $2,787 a month. Toronto is second at $2,526 and Burnaby is third at $2,330 a month.
The City of Kelowna says they don’t expect the averages for rentals in the city to substantially rise in the near future.
“We are starting to see that month-over-month price increase start to taper off. There are some positive indications on the horizon that we’re gonna start to see the pace of increases slow down,” said James Moore, infill and housing policy manager at the City of Kelowna.
Kelowna is also one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, meaning demand is high and the price to rent is even higher.
“The Okanagan is a very attractive place to live in as a result we have a significant number of new people coming to the Okanagan,” said Carbone.
“I think you’re gonna see rental pricing probably increase above and beyond what the residential purchase price is going to be over the next little bit. so if people can afford it I recommend, you know it’s a good time to buy.”
However, not all hope is lost. The city says it has over 6000 units currently in approval processes across the city and eventually, that will help even out the costs.
“I think we’re going to start to see over the next year that a lot of the rental housing that’s been under construction for the past few years is getting to the final stages of occupancy. We’re going to start to see a lot more units available on the rental market and that’s going to start putting downward pressure on prices,” said Moore.
The city is also introducing new bonus programs to developers with the goal of increasing the affordable housing supply.