Reprieve in the housing crisis with Kelowna rent prices going down
New data from a rental site shows rent prices are down in Kelowna and around the country early in the new year.
Rentals.ca released its latest report showing a slight decrease in rent in Kelowna. One-bedroom apartments are down by 0.8 per cent and two-bedrooms are down 1.4 per cent since last year.
The site has Kelowna ranked as the 15th most expensive Canadian city to rent an apartment in. An average one-bedroom in Kelowna costs $1,882 and a two-bedroom costs $2,333.
Vancouver and Burnaby are holding the top two spots for most expensive cities with average one-bedrooms going for $2,512 and $2,366.
“In B.C., asking rents for apartments ended 2024 down slightly from a year ago, -0.5 per cent, to an average of $2,487. This marked the second year in a row that apartment rents decreased in B.C. following a 1.4 per cent decline in 2023,” rentals.ca said in its report.
READ MORE: Huge jump in Kelowna's vacancy rate a boon for new tenants
This news comes shortly after the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported vacancy rates are up from 1.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent in 2024.
Average rent prices across the country were down by 3.2 per cent at the end of 2024 compared to the end of 2023. Average rents around Canada hit a 17-month low in December at $2,109.
B.C. and Ontario are still the reigning champions for high rent prices.
Rents are down nationally, but they are still 16.8 per cent higher than they were when the pandemic started.
“December marked the fifth consecutive month of rent declines. Between September and December, average asking rents fell by 3.8 per cent, indicating a steepening decline for rents heading into 2025,” the report said.
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