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The flight from downtown or major cities is most pronounced in Ontario. Average monthly rent in Toronto at $ 2,531 was down 14% from a year ago, while it rose 35% in Hamilton to $ 2,106.
The cities with the highest average rents in Canada – Toronto, Vancouver, Mississauga, and Oakville – had 5 to 17 percent lower rents than the previous year. Conversely, a year ago, those rents had increased between 5 and 14% since October 2018.
Paul Danison, Rentals.ca’s director of content, said the flight from downtown isn’t very strong in Vancouver. “I believe this is happening, but not so much an ‘urban exodus’ as in Toronto,” he said. “This trend is opening up more vacancies and causing lower rents for smaller units in urban and metropolitan areas.”
The report says it is based on “demand for rent” analysis, which can hide even greater falls in rents. “When conditions are poor, landlords will often accept rents below the required rental rate or offer incentives such as one or two months of free rent,” Danison said.
“Vancouver rents are falling every year, which suggests a higher vacancy rate.”
He said another indication of an increase in the vacancy rate is that many landlords are offering incentives to renters in downtown Vancouver and the West End, with some offering one or two months of free rent.
Last week, the BC government said it will extend the freeze on rent increases until July 10, 2021 to support renters facing income loss as a result of the pandemic. The province originally froze rent increases in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic with the ban ending on December 1.
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