Kelowna now 6th most expensive Canadian city for renters

A new report pegs Kelowna as the sixth most expensive city in Canada for renters.

The PadMapper Canadian Rent Report combines third-party information with data from hundreds of thousands of PadMapper listings to calculate the average price of rental units in 25 Canadian cities.

The company’s October report shows that, while rent prices have not seen a significant increase since Septemeber, rent in Kelowna is still at an all-time high.

The average rent for a one bedroom unit was $1,120 for October 1st in Kelowna. For two bedroom units, the average rent sits at $1,590.

A Craigslist search shows that renters may be able to find a better deal on two bedroom units then PadMapper's report, but may struggle to find a one bedroom unit within the $1,100 average.

$1150 / 1br + Den - Condo at The Verve (North Glenmore)

$1150 / 1br - 1bath - Basement Suite (Glenmore)

$1150 / 1br - Pet Ok - Basement Suite (University District)

$1100 / 2br - 1bath - Basement Suite (Lower Mission)

$1200 / 2br - 1bath - Basement Suite (Lower Mission)

$1200 / 2br - Pet Ok - Adult Building (Rutland)

Brian Coyne, who works in data analytics at PadMapper, said the company’s report only reflects current market prices in the city, meaning it looks at what new renters are being charged, not necessarily what everyone (such as people who have been in their units for a long time) is paying.

He pointed out that a city like Kelowna, with a relatively small population and rock-bottom vacancy rates, can produce “noisy” data, but that the trends laid out in the report are “pretty representative of what the market is doing.”

Of the 25 cities in PadMapper's report, Windsor, Ontario, is the cheapest. There, a one-bedroom unit costs an average of $640 a month and a two-bedroom costs $890.