The cost of renting a home may be coming down in some parts of Vancouver Island, but some often overlooked costs can deliver an unexpected hit to renters’ bottom line.
A new analysis from Rentals.ca shows that costs such as parking, storage, internet, and insurance can add hundreds to your monthly expenses.
While Victoria’s average rent is $2,287 for all housing types, ancillary costs like parking ($99), storage ($22), and internet and insurance ($120) can bring that total to $2,528, a jump of $241. But Victoria fares better than other parts of the country.
“What looked like a $2,200 apartment in Ottawa actually costs over $2,500, with Ottawa having some of the most expensive parking rates in the country,” according to the Rentals.ca report. “Halifax renters, mainly due to higher storage costs, end up paying almost $100 per month more than Victoria renters, even though base rents are roughly equal.”
Edmonton renters face the highest extra costs, with the average monthly rent of $1,637 jumping an additional $263 when other fees are considered. That represents the equivalent of an additional 1.93 months of rent over the course of a year. Vancouver’s $282 jump on the average rent of $2,738 is the lowest of the eight cities surveyed at an additonal 1.23 months of rent, followed by Victoria at 1.26 months.
“While Vancouver and Toronto continue to lead as Canada’s most expensive cities, they rank relatively low in percentage of additional expenses when compared to other major cities,” according to Rentals.ca. “Some markets that appear more affordable initially see sharper increases once extras are factored in.”
Rents have been steadily declining in Victoria over the past year. Rentals.ca puts the average rent for a one-bedroom in Victoria at $2,014 a month, 6.4 per cent less than they were going for a year ago.
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