Ottawa residents lined up on Wednesday almost an hour before a group showing of new bachelor apartments. It may be the latest sign of rising rental prices in Canada.
Real estate broker Neil Newton, who was showing off the tiny apartments that start at $875 a month, said he has been blown away by the demand.
“It’s through the roof,” he said. “I’ve never seen it before.”
Evelyn Lilly, a student desperately seeking a home, said that apartment hunting has been incredibly difficult.
“You see a place that you like and it’s gone 20 seconds later,” she said. “The prices are continually being pushed higher and higher.”
Not everyone sees a crisis. John Dickie, from the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations, said landlords are reporting that the market is “good” but not “on fire.”
But data suggests it depends where you live. New numbers from the firm PadMapper show rental prices rose by double digits in 13 out of 25 Canadian cities in the last year.
Ottawa saw one of the biggest leaps. PadMapper says the median price of a one-bedroom apartment in the capital in July was $1,250, up 15.7 per cent from last July.
Ottawa is only the sixth most expensive city, the data shows. Toronto is number one. It cost $2,140 for the average one-bedroom there in July, which is also a 15.7 per cent increase year over year.
Three other Ontario cities also saw price increases higher than 15 per cent: Kitchener, Hamilton and St. Catharines.
Montreal was also hot, with prices up 14.8 per cent year-over year, at $1,320.
Vancouver is still the second most expensive city, with the average price of a one-bedroom at $2,000, but prices there went up only 0.5 per cent in the past year.
Prices decreased in just three of the 25 cities: Halifax (down three per cent), Regina (down 14 per cent) and Saskatoon (down 12.6 per cent).
The least expensive place to rent, according to PadMapper, is Windsor, Ont. A one-bedroom there will set a renter back $710.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Joanne Schnurr
