Cost of rent climbs in Halifax, now ranked 20th most expensive city in Canada

A new report shows the cost of rent is continuing to climb in Halifax.

Industry experts say that’s pushing more people out of the market and keeping others stuck in units they may have outgrown.

A new report by Rentals.ca, which looks at new units coming to market, shows the city has seen another jump in prices.

“Halifax landed 20th on our list for the most expensive city in Canada with a one-bedroom apartment costing $1,863 per month and a two-bedroom costing $2,259 per month,” says Giacomo Ladas, communications director with Rentals.ca.

That’s a nine per cent increase year-over-year for a one-bedroom and six per cent for a two. The average asking rent in Canada reached a record high of $2,078 in July.

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Rentals.ca releases its rent reports monthly.

“I think it’s important, specifically for renters, because what this allows them to do is set their expectations properly,” Ladas says. “Typically, we thought 30 per cent of your income would go towards housing, 20 per cent you would save, and that’s how the breakdown would be. But it’s not like that anymore.”

Lisa Hayhurst lives in an apartment in Highfield Park and is the chair of the Dartmouth chapter of ACORN. She the independent tenant advocacy group wants to see the rent cap stay in place because people are struggling.

“It’s very hard on everybody, I think, because there’s so many people now that don’t have anywhere to go,” Hayhurst says.

She’s on the list to find an affordable place to live as she must be out of her apartment for at least two weeks due to upcoming renovations. She’s worried it will last longer.

“Nobody is going to know where to go or what to do,” Hayhurst says. “I’m only partially employed and I don’t have a lot of money.”

Advocates agree people are feeling stuck.

“If you’re about to have children and you want a three bedroom, all of a sudden from a one bedroom, you can’t find one,” says Michael Kabalen, executive director of the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia. “But if you’re in a three-bedroom and your kids have left and you only need a one-bedroom, why would you pay the same for less?”

And they say more people are getting priced out.

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Dalhousie University professor Jeff Karabanow works closely with the city’s unhoused. “We’re really living in a housing crisis,” he says. “Rents are out of control.”

He says the risk is increasing for more people as rent prices continue to go up.

“We have low-income folks, we have middle-class populations, newcomer populations, that are all now also really struggling for anything affordable, anything stable,” he says.

Kevin Russell, executive director of the Investment Property Owner’s Association, says the rent cap is not helping smaller property owners who are selling amid profit loss.

“The people who are purchasing them are going to move into those units and they’re going to convert back to home ownership — single-family home ownership,” Russell says. “That’s taking more rentals off the market.”

Karabanow says immediate action is needed.

“We should be declaring this an emergency,” he says.

“We should really have every level of government around the table with the private sector to start to think through how we can put in measures so we can flip stock that exists now into something more affordable immediately.”