By Vincent Papequash

Rental Market

Cost of rent in Prince George depends on availability

Sep 17, 2020 | 3:33 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Students have settled in for the semester, and it seems that there are more units available for rent in Prince George. With a variety of ways to find housing, whether it’s through the old-fashioned means of leasing, or using sites such as Craigslist or Kijiji, or AirBnB, there are always options.

How does the rental market in Prince George compare to other cities, though? A quick look at the data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) would suggest that Prince George renters enjoy a more affordable market than Vancouverites, but is this the whole picture?

According to an email from the CMHC, they do not collect data on units that are listed on Craigslist or Kijiji. For many students who don’t need long term leases, these sites usually offer affordable means of finding places to rent.

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A quick look on the CMHC data portal shows that the average cost of a two bedroom in Vancouver was $1748 a month in October 2019. In Prince George, for the same kind of unit during the same period, renters paid an average of $921.

However, if you use Kijiji and you are not looking for a two bedroom unit, you can filter out other types of rentals and you end up with a different picture. A one bedroom can go for as low as $500 in Vancouver, but $800 in Prince George.

Melissa Barcellos, Manager of Economic Development for Prince George says, “I think really, our economy is driving this need for rentals, and rental vacancy rates are extremely low in Prince George.”

Furthermore, the CMHC explains that, “rental prices in medium population centers like Prince George are heavily dependent on population growth, which is mostly driven by migration from other provinces or from abroad.”

Blake Buckham, Owner of NEST Property Management adds that “it makes it tough for a lot of people to find places, and I would say that there’s probably a little bit of a shortage of rental properties here.”