More than a third of Kelowna residents are renting, and it’s not just young people
From Gen Z to baby boomers rentership is increasing intergenerationally and Kelowna is among the cities with the highest percentage of renters in the province.
A new statistical report from Point2 shows a steep increase in rentership across B.C., and Kelowna is right behind Vancouver and Burnaby when it comes to cities with the most renters.
In Kelowna roughly 35 per cent of residents rent, in Burnaby 39 per cent of people rent and in Vancouver more than 54 per cent of residents rent. The national average is 33.4 per cent.
Kelowna has 21,805 rental households, according to the latest Statistics Canada Census.
Between 2016 and 2021, the number of renters in Canada grew at twice the rate of homeowners, according to Point2’s data. Homeowner households grew at 4.6 per cent and renting households grew at 10.3 per cent.
READ MORE: Kelowna homeowners top Canadian list of mortgage-free living
Typically people under 24 make up most of the rental market, but in recent years renters are more evenly distributed among all age groups.
“The rental market in Canada is particularly popular among younger demographics, with more than 81 per cent of under-24-year-olds and more than half of 25-to-34-year-olds renting. And, although Gen Z and young Millennials lead the surge in rentership, there's also an uptick in baby boomer renters,” Point2 said in its report.
Kelowna has a high percentage of renters, but Richmond saw the highest increase in rentership among Canada’s biggest cities going from 17.6 per cent to 28.7 per cent.
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