The City of Victoria has scored high on a list of the best places for renters to live thanks to its cultural and community elements, but B.C.'s capital drops much further down the list when it comes to housing affordability.
Point2 Homes ranked the 100 best Canadian cities for renters by looking at 24 indicators, such as housing affordability, quality of life, community amenities and more. The rankings relied mostly on Statistics Canada data for the 24 indicators.
Victoria was the top B.C. city on the list and came in at 11th overall in Canada. St. John's, Nfld. was ranked the best city for renters overall due to its balance of economic opportunities, affordability and vibrant arts and culture scene.
A good walk score, a large share of the population having a post-secondary education and a high number of restaurants and museums per 10,000 people also lofted Victoria to the top spot nationwide in the "community" category. The city, however, scored among the bottom 25 in one section that measured renters' sense of belonging to their community.
While Victoria just fell outside the top 50 on a list ranking renters' quality of life, its neighbour Saanich cracked the top 20 in that category. The quality of life score was based on factors like commute time, greenspace, life stress, air quality and crime.
Victoria and Saanich fared poorly in a category focused on housing affordability across Canada, coming in at 68 and 81 respectively.
Renting in Victoria comes with some clear financial challenges. The city's average rent was far more expensive than any of the top 10 communities and only 14 cities had a greater share of renters spending more than 30 per cent of their income on monthly shelter costs.
Renters also make up a much smaller share of the residents in those 14 cities, which are mainly located in Metro Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area. Eight of the cities have renter rates below 30 per cent and none of the communities saw renters make up half of their residents. In comparison, 60 per cent of Victoria's population are renters.
Montreal is the only city in Canada with a higher proportion of renters than Victoria.
The Point2 Homes ranking isn't alone in highlighting Victoria's rental affordability woes.
With the average rent of a vacant one-bedroom unit coming in at $2,189 in July, Rentals.ca's most recent rent report ranked Victoria the ninth most expensive market in Canada. B.C.'s capital moved up to the fifth priciest city when Rentals.ca considered the average price of vacant units ranging from studios to three-bedroom rentals.
Zumper's most recent Canadian Rent Report, which looked at June's market conditions, ranked Victoria as the fourth most expensive city to rent in. That analysis used the median asking rents for a one-bedroom unit. The monthly price of one of those spaces in Victoria was $2,170 in June, which saw negligible change from May but marked a 7.4 per cent year-over-year increase.
