Returning students push up rents

Rents for smaller units jump in September as London’s post-secondary institutions return to in-class learning

Photo: The 19-storey Luxe London student rental apartment complex at 1235 Richmond Street

ACCORDING TO THE Rentals.ca October 2021 Rent Report, the easing of pandemic restrictions and a return to in-class learning at London’s post-secondary institutions is being reflected in rental rates across the city, namely for smaller rental units.

The report pegs the rent for a one-bedroom unit in London last month at $1,304, while two-bedroom units went for an average $1,583. Year-over-year, those prices rose 8.6 per cent for one-bedroom units, but only fractionally for a two-bedroom rental.

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With about 50,000 Western University and Fanshawe College students, and with both schools returning to on-campus learning in September, demand has picked up for smaller units, particularly those in the 500- to 700-square-foot range.

For all property types in London, the average rent in the third quarter of 2021 was $1,678, up from $1,517 the year before and $1,290 in 2019, the company’s data shows.

Nationally, after a tumultuous 2020, the rental market continues to slowly recover as the average asking rents across Canada have increased month over month for five months in a row, landing at $1,769 per month in September 2021.

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“With the demand for larger rental apartment units increasing in 2020, 2021 has seen the demand for smaller rental apartment units start to increase as the demand for larger units remains stable,” says the report’s author, Ben Myers, who is Ben is president of Bullpen Research and Consulting Inc., a Toronto-based boutique residential real estate advisory firm.

“While condo apartments saw their rental rates decline across the board in 2020 and into 2021, the luxury rental market picked up earlier this year,” adds Myers, “with tiny units leading the charge in the late summer and early fall.”