With Toronto landlords asking for less, Burnaby was Canada's 2nd most expensive city for renters last month: listing site

An Air Canada Boeing 787 aircraft arriving from Toronto passes behind condo towers in the Metrotown area of Burnaby, B.C., while on approach to land at Vancouver International Airport, on Sunday, May 30, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl Dyck)

VANCOUVER — Data collected by a rental listings website in June suggested Burnaby was the second most expensive Canadian city in which to rent.

A national rent report from listings site Zumper unsurprisingly put Vancouver in the top spot, but with landlords asking for less in Ontario last month, Burnaby moved into second place.

According to Zumper's data, compiled by analyzing the listings on its site in the month of June, the median rent per month for one-bedroom apartments in Vancouver was $2,000.

Landlords in Burnaby were asking for a median of $1,750.

Toronto, which is often in close competition with Vancouver, actually fell to fourth place, with the median of $1,710. Barrie, Ont., came in third in June with the median monthly rate of $1,730.

According to Zumper, it's the first time ever that Toronto has been out of the top two, with one-bedrooms seeing the largest monthly decline across Canada. Landlords in the city were asking for rates comparable to what renters paid in early 2017.

It's a major factor in why Burnaby, and Barrie, moved up. According to Zumper's data, landlords in Canada's largest city were asking for $540 less per month when compared to pre-pandemic rates.

Burnaby landlords are only asking for a $40 difference compared to what they'd expected in March 2020.

In response to a question from CTV News, a spokesperson for the site said, "It seems Toronto had a lot more to fall this past year in terms of prices, as many renters migrated out of the big city in search of more space and affordability to ride out the pandemic."

She said in the same vein, this trend may have led to an increased demand in cities like Burnaby, where there may be more space for the same amount of money a renter would pay in Vancouver.

In Vancouver, a newly listed two-bedroom went for about $2,800 a month in June, the site's data suggested. In Burnaby, one could rent a two-bedroom for just $280 more per month than the cost of a one-bedroom unit in Vancouver.

B.C.'s capital held onto fifth place in Zumper's rankings last month, with the median one-bedroom rate of $1,670. Two-bedrooms cost about $2,080, according to listings active in June.

Other cities in Canada's western-most province to make the monthly ranking include Kelowna (seventh place with the median for a one bedroom at $1,520) and Abbotsford (15th place, with the median of $1,270).

Looking at Canadian capital cities, a renter could expect to pay the same to live in Abbotsford as in Halifax last month, and a renter comparing apartments in Vancouver and Winnipeg would save nearly $1,000 a month opting for Manitoba.

One-bedroom apartments in Edmonton, Regina and Quebec City had a median lower than $1,000.

A renter moving to Canada's capital would spend about $1,500 a month on a one-bedroom, or could rent a space with a second bedroom for less than the median for one in Burnaby.