Rental rates jump again

Residential apartment and condo rental rates in London post the second-highest gain in the country

BUCKING A DECLINING national trend, the average apartment and condo rent in London increased for the second straight month in London.

Last month, average monthly asking rents for one-bedroom units rose by 0.8 per cent to $1,248, while rents for two-bedroom units rose by 8.2 per cent to $1,620. That represents year-over-year increases of 18.7 per cent and 28.1 per cent respectively, according to a monthly report from Rentals.ca, a national rental advertising and tracking website.

Nationally, the average asking rent for all properties in Canada was down 2.4 per cent in June to $1770, which represents a 9.4 per cent year-over-year decline.

According to Rentals.ca, the June increase in London was the second highest rate increase in the country, behind only Victoria, B.C.

“London has not been nearly as affected as other cities like Toronto and Vancouver and some of the other centres,” said Paul Danison, content director at Rental.ca, in an interview with the London Free Press. “If you look at the percentages on the two bedrooms, and even the one-bedrooms, year-over-year they’re off the charts.”

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The only month in which London rental prices dropped during the pandemic was April, when rates dropped by 11.3 per cent, a decline that has been recouped in May and June.

“You just don’t have the supply yet,” Danison said. “There’s some in the works that are in the pipeline but the supply is not near what demand is, so it’s still a landlord’s market.”

According to the Rental.ca report, the impact of Covid-19 has not been uniform across the country and it is difficult to tell how much pent-up tenant demand there is from tenants reluctant to move during the health crisis. In addition, it remains to be seen what will happen when the mortgage deferral and eviction ban periods end, and what will occur when government assistance programs are discontinued.