A national pension report According to rental website Rentals.ca, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Guelph in May rose nearly 20 per cent in one year.
Statistics are based on monthly listings on Rentals.ca.
The average monthly rent in May for a one-bedroom apartment in Guelph rose 19.6% and 12.9% for a two-bedroom apartment. Toronto saw a similar 19% increase for condo and apartment rentals to $2,418 in May.
In a list of 35 cities across Canada, Guelph ranked as the seventh most expensive rental in May with the average cost of a one-bedroom at $1,950 and a two-bedroom at $2,156 in 14th square.
Cities neighboring Guelph, such as Kitchener and London, saw increases in condo and apartment rentals with average rents in May up 26% to $1,979 and 25% to $1,893 respectively.
Vancouver ranked the highest rent this year for all property types at $2,909 out of 20 Canadian cities.
Just below Vancouver in the rankings are the seven highest, all in the Greater Toronto Area: Richmond Hill at $2,645; Toronto at $2,365; Etobicoke at $2,213; Mississauga at $2,180; North York at $2,047; York at $2,044 and Brampton at $2,032.
After the GTA, the next five cities are all in Ontario: Hamilton at $1,933; Ottawa at $1,902; Kitchener at $1,896; Scarborough at $1,864 and London at $1,841.
“The numbers are a little skewed because in a lot of markets during the pandemic rents have gone down, 15, 20, 25%. We’ve only just returned to pre-pandemic levels,” said Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting.
He said Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge haven’t seen the same drop in rent prices during the pandemic as graduate students have stayed in the city instead of moving for jobs.
Rental demand for larger single-family homes has not dissipated after the peak of the pandemic. With the increase in the average monthly rent for a single-family home, in May 2021, $2,609 to $2,881 in May 2022.
The report cites anecdotal evidence of bidding wars and people renting homes without seeing them in person.
Myers mentioned that there was not a lot of new rental inventory available.
He suggested the housing market was in a bubble in January and February because prices were exploding.
“Recent hikes we have seen. Very high rates and that scares a lot of people when they look at what their monthly payment will be and also when they look at the results of the resale market. You know, in a lot of places, down 15, 20% from the peak in February,” Myers said.
Most people who would buy their first home and leave the rental market are still renting, which reduces the supply of available places, he explained.
“I still expect rents to go up.”
Seasonality is in play, the summer months aren’t as strong a rental market as the spring and fall months, Myers said.
“The trend of fewer people buying and fewer people renting. Either through new household formations, people moving out of mum and dad’s house. Immigration is still strong. I think a lesser factor will obviously be tourism and some of those leaving the long-term rental market and entering the short-term tourist rental market,” he said.
