Kelowna and Victoria flip-flop on list of most expensive cities to rent an apartment

Kelowna and Victoria continue to do the flip-flop when it comes to which city is the third most expensive in Canada to rent an apartment.

In February, Kelowna was the third priciest, behind Vancouver and Toronto.

Last month, Victoria jumped a spot into third, pushing Kelowna to fourth.

Vancouver and Toronto are always No. 1 and 2, but third place tends to always be up for grabs, alternately occupied by Victoria or Vancouver, according to Crystal Chen, the marketing manager at Zumper, the online platform that lists apartments for rent and creates the monthly Canadian National Rent Report.

Let's put this into dollars.

The median monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment in Victoria in March was $1,770, down 1.1% from the $1,790 it was in February, but up 14.9% year-over-year.

In Kelowna, the median rent for a typical one-bed in March was $1,710, down 5% from the $1,800 it was at in February, but up 14.8% over 12 months.

Vancouver and Toronto continue to have the heftiest one-bed rents in the country at $2,190 and $1,920 a month, respectively.

When it comes to rent for a two-bedroom apartment, the rankings stay the same with Vancouver No. 1 with $2,990, Toronto at $2,450, Victoria at $2,270 and Kelowna with $2,260.

Kelowna leads the pack with median monthly rent on a two-bedroom apartment up 26.3% year over year.

Victoria and Kelowna are both desirable places to live, work, play and invest.

That means there's stiff competition for apartments and rents climb as a result.

In fact, Victoria and Kelowna are so in-demand that their apartment rents are higher than larger cities such as Montreal ($1,350 and $1,850), Calgary ($1,190 and $1,390), Edmonton ($940 and $1,230), Ottawa ($1,540 and $1,820) and Halifax ($1,430 and $1,870).

Victoria's and Kelowna's lofty rents point to the unaffordability of housing in both cities.

Rents are so high that low-to-middle-income individuals, couples and families may not be able to afford an apartment.

That means people will share with a roommate or two or rely on the bank of mom and dad in order to meet rent.

High rents are also an indication of high housing prices in both Victoria and Kelowna.

In Victoria, the benchmark selling price of a typical single-family house was a record-high of $1.23 million in March, a condominium $635,100.

The typical single-family house in Kelowna was a record $1.13 million in March, a townhouse $758,100 and a condo $557,000.

The cheapest cities in Canada to rent an apartment are St. John's at $850 and $940, Quebec City at $910 and $1,240 and Regina at $930 and $1,100.

See the full report at here.