{"id":621304,"date":"2026-04-22T15:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621304\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:36:12","slug":"heres-how-you-can-try-to-get-cheaper-rent-in-vancouver-daily-hive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621304\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how you can try to get cheaper rent in Vancouver | Daily Hive"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Metro Vancouver cities still make up four of the top five most expensive places<\/a> to rent in the country, prices have been trickling down over the past few years \u2014 and some people are taking advantage of it.<\/p>\n

Darren, a renter in East Vancouver, received notice from his property manager in December 2025 that they would be increasing his rent from $1,900 to $1,950 a month,\u00a0for what he described as a \u201ctiny little hole in the wall studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just too much,\u201d Darren told Daily Hive Urbanized (he asked to keep his last name anonymous). \u201cSo, seeing the rents going down across the city, I thought it was the right opportunity to get it lowered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darren had lived in his apartment for three years. When he first moved there, his rent was $1,850 a month for both the studio and parking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when [rent] was starting to peak. So everything was going through the roof. It wasn\u2019t the best time to be looking for an apartment, but you know, life does that to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When he got notice of the rent increase last December, he decided to take the opportunity to lower his costs.<\/p>\n

He looked at some units that were listed in his apartment on Craigslist (where he had originally found his apartment), and saw they were lower than what he was currently paying \u2014 one was at $1,550. Darren gave his landlord a 30-day move-out notice, with the offer to stay if they would lower his rent to $1,650. He told them that rents were declining across Vancouver and mentioned the cheaper unit in the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI figured that this would be a good in the middle for both of us,\u201d Darren said.<\/p>\n

They responded, saying that the unit listed for $1,550 was smaller than his and offered him $1,700.<\/p>\n

Darren had assumed they would come back to him with this price, and agreed. But if they had come back offering $1,750 or $1,800, he said he would have looked for another place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the real key to negotiating a rent decrease, is putting your mouth where your mouth is and being willing to leave, if they don\u2019t come through with negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he thought $1,700 was a good compromise, because he couldn\u2019t find anything comparable price-wise to stay in his neighbourhood, which he loves because of its walkability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a nice little reprieve \u2014 for once \u2014 in a city like Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Darren took the opportunity to negotiate, he\u2019s now saving $250 a month, which amounts to $3,000 over the course of the full year. He said he\u2019s putting that money towards a deposit to buy a home one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t have to deal with the rising rents forever,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a scary thing, right? When the market gets super high, landlords could kick you out to get in new tenants. You just never know. You never have security when the rents are going up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why are rents going down?<\/p>\n

Rents across the country are going down due to basic economics: an increase in supply and a decrease in demand.<\/p>\n

B.C.\u2019s population dropped by 41,000 people in 2025<\/a>, due to the federal government\u2019s policy shift to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in Canada, especially international students and temporary workers. Non-permanent residents tend to make up a large share of renters, and as their numbers decline, vacancy rates are rising.<\/p>\n

Further, demand from new renters has also fallen. Giacomo Ladas, the associate director of communications for Rentals.ca, a rental marketplace, told Daily Hive Urbanized that would-be renters aren\u2019t entering the market due to \u201cheightened economic uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Statistics Canada\u2019s Labour Force Survey<\/a> from March 2026, the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 was at 13.8 per cent, about double the unemployment rate (6.7 per cent) for Canadians at large.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Elena_Alex_Ferns\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cFalling rents are good news for renters, of course, but they\u2019re also kind of a signal of economic strain. We\u2019re seeing weaker demand driven by weaker financial conditions from Canadians, especially among younger Canadians,\u201d said Ladas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re staying at home longer. They\u2019re staying with roommates longer. They\u2019re waiting to upgrade. They\u2019re maybe making rental choices based on affordability rather than accessibility, whether that\u2019s moving to a different province in search of more affordable rents.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is coinciding with a record number of purpose-built rental completions<\/a>. In 2025, Vancouver saw 2,300 purpose-built market rental units completed, the highest in four decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our most expensive rental markets have been on this build, build, build to increase our housing supply,\u201d said Matisse Yiu, the head of marketing for liv.rent, another rental marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really a matter of a decrease in demand and an increase in supply in our rental market that ultimately affected a lot of the rental rates coming down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Are we finally in a renters market?<\/p>\n

Yiu said that liv.rent\u2019s highest recorded month for rent was September 2023. According to its Metro Vancouver rent report from that month<\/a>, the average rent for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit was $2,438, nearly $350 more than current prices.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s rent prices in 2023 were trending upwards. (liv.rent\/Supplied)<\/p>\n

Around this time, rentals popping up in Vancouver included a partioned-off \u201cshared space hall area\u201d for $800 a month<\/a>, a basement suite without a stove, cooktop, or any element for cooking for $2,900 a month<\/a>, and a unit that went for $1,200 a month<\/a> and asked the tenant to housekeep for 15 hours a week.<\/p>\n

Ladas said Rentals.ca recorded the highest rents across Canada in spring 2024,<\/a>\u00a0when asking rents for all residential property types averaged $2,181.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever there was an open house for a single unit in a building, there\u2019d be a line up down the street to view it. It was a crazy period,\u201d said Ladas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now it\u2019s a renter\u2019s market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In April 2026, Metro Vancouver\u2019s average rate for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit was at $2,090, according to liv.rent<\/a>. In Vancouver, rent for the same unit was $2,249. And Rentals.ca recorded the national average rent at $2,008 a month in April 2026.<\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s rent has gone up slightly<\/a> since the beginning of the year, which Ladas says is likely because people are taking the opportunity to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that it is Canadians who are taking advantage of these reduced prices and these moving incentives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How are landlords trying to attract new tenants?
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

A rental building posted on Rentals.ca offering two months of free rent. (Rentals.ca\/Supplied)<\/p>\n

Not only are rents going down, but there are now many landlords and property managers who are offering moving incentives, so much so that Rentals.ca added a rental incentive filter on its rental platform.<\/p>\n

Tam Barclay, a real estate specialist with Stilhavn Real Estate Services, works with both tenants and landlords to rent units. Currently, she\u2019s renting out a building called Cedar Lane on Kingsway. To attract tenants, she\u2019s offering one month free for people who sign a one-year lease, and two months free for a 24-month contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd still, people are trying to squeeze me on certain prices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said this is happening because there\u2019s \u201cjust so much product\u201d on the market right now. In the same area, four other buildings came online within a six-month period.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get a huge amount of competition. I would drop my prices, and then they would drop their prices,\u201d Barclay said.<\/p>\n

Cedar Lane is an air-conditioned, concrete building that is pet-friendly. Barclay has a studio listed for $1,925 a month, one-bedrooms on the top floors at $2,350, and a two-bedroom two-bathroom for $2,950. She said she\u2019s recently dropped the prices of three-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouses to $3,750.<\/p>\n

This building is even offering free, basic internet to tenants (or they can pay $30 a month for high-speed).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen it before,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re offering a lot of good things \u2014 like a lot of good things. It\u2019s still slow to rent, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the rental housing market was completely different five years ago. Not only were rental incentives not offered, but landlords and property managers didn\u2019t upgrade apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich always frustrated me. They didn\u2019t paint between tenants. They didn\u2019t get proper cleaners,\u201d Barclay said.<\/p>\n

Today, she advises landlords to think about upgrading apartments if they want to attract tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019ve had the same unit for 20 years and done nothing, I think it\u2019s time that they probably do a renovation,\u201d she said. \u201cIt makes such a difference. And they don\u2019t need to spend a huge amount of money, but doing a kitchen and a bathroom makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can renters try to negotiate rent?<\/p>\n

If someone wants to ask their landlord for lower rent, the first step is to research the market rate for similar units. They can then contact their landlords\u00a0with screenshots of listings in either their rental building or neighbourhood to show that prices are declining, said Liu.<\/p>\n

Along with that, they\u2019ll explain how good a tenant they\u2019ve been \u2014 paying rent on time, being low maintenance, and how long they\u2019ve been in the unit for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really trying to appeal to tenant turnover. Landlords don\u2019t want that, so they\u2019re really trying to use all of this information together to negotiate their rent prices, either for a rent freeze or even a rent reduction,\u201d said Liu. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely seeing that normalization of negotiation at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If someone decides to move homes in search of cheaper rent, landlords are often looking for tenants with stable incomes, good references, and good credit.<\/p>\n

And when asking for lower rents, Barclay advises people not to be \u201ctoo aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to ask for a couple of hundred, maybe a hundred off, maybe 200 off, depending on what the listing is. If it\u2019s a higher listing, then you could be a bit cheeky and maybe ask for $1,000 off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If you can offer to pay a couple of months of rent upfront, it also helps your case.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at the situation and look at what you\u2019re bringing to the table,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If a landlord isn\u2019t willing to lower rent, they might still offer move-in incentives like a free month, a reduction in parking fees, or the inclusion of utilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Metro Vancouver cities still make up four of the top five most expensive places to rent in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-621304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-vancouver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}