New report shows rental rates on the rise in Windsor

A generic rent sign in front of a home. (Shutterstock)

Renting an apartment continues to get more expensive in Windsor, according to a new report from Rentals.ca, which tracks rental prices across the country.

The recently released report for November indicates a trend of slowed increases in Canada’s major metropolitan centres, but marks a near double-digit increase for one-bedroom apartments in the Rose City.

“It’s really a supply and demand issue,” said Giacomo Ladas, a spokesperson with Rentals.ca in an interview with CTV Windsor. “Demand has continued to stay the same and increase and supply hasn’t met that yet.”

The report shows a new one-bedroom apartment cost a tenant an average of $1,544 a month last month, representing an 8.9 per cent increase year-over-year, but remains flat from the month prior.

For a two-bedroom apartment, the average rent came in at $1,952 a month, which is a jump of 6.5 per cent from the same time last year, and an increase of 0.8 per cent from October.

Ladas said that while the increases remain significant despite their slowed-rate of growth – Windsor remains one of the most affordable places in the country to rent, coming in 28th of 35 cities tracked for rent costs.

The national average accounting for all residential housing types averaged $2,174 in November, remaining near the record high level of $2,178 a month recorded in October.

Year-over-year, asking rents jumped another 8.4 per cent in November, slowed from the annual growth rates of 9.9 per cent in October and 11.1 per cent in September.

“If the national average is about 8.4 per cent, Windsor falls in line with that; however, even though it’s still expensive, the average one-bedroom apartment in Windsor is about six to seven hundred dollars less than the national average,” said Ladas.

The average asking rent for one bedroom in Canada in November was $1,931 a month, which is a 13.28 per cent increase from the same time last year while two bedrooms averaged a monthly rent of $2,289 representing an increase of 10.61 per cent year-over-year.

Vancouver topped the list as the most expensive city in the country while Saskatoon rounded out the 35 cities as the cheapest in Canada to find a place to rent.