It's top dollar for Vancouver two bedroom apartments

Vancouver has Canada's highest monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in the city were $1,150 in April, ahead of Toronto's $1,134, Calgary's $1,082 and Ottawa's $1,061, CMHC said Tuesday.

Alberta had the highest average monthly rents, at $1,023. B.C.'s were second-highest at $983 -- which was a decrease of $20 from April 2009.

Nationally, rental apartment vacancies in major Canadian centres rose 2.9 per cent in April, up from 2.7 per cent a year earlier, CMHC said.

"Rental construction and competition from the condominium market added upward pressure on vacancy rates and historically low mortgage rates attracted renter households towards home ownership over the last year," CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan said.

As well as the 35 major census metropolitan areas (CMAs), the report also includes average vacancies in communities of 10,000 or more. That part of the survey found the average vacancy rate in structures with three or more units rose to 3.1 per cent from 2.8 per cent in 2009, while average rent rose 1.8 per cent.

Of the 35 major centres, the lowest vacancy rates were in Quebec City (0.4 per cent), Regina (0.8 per cent), Winnipeg (one per cent) and St. John's, N.L. (1.1 per cent).

Regina and St. John's also saw some of the highest rent increases in the country, at 7.1 per cent and five per cent, respectively, and well above the national average.

The highest vacancy rates were in Windsor, Ont. (12.4 per cent), Peterborough, Ont., and Abbotsford, (both 6.6 per cent).

Alberta was the only location where vacancies increased and rents in existing structures fell significantly, in both large population centres and in major CMAs.

The lowest rents across the nation were in the Quebec centres of Saguenay ($522), Trois-Rivieres ($531) and Sherbrooke ($556).

The report, prepared twice-yearly, doesn't include vacancy rates in what the CMHC calls the "secondary rental market" -- rented condos, detached or semi-detached houses, duplexes or secondary apartments.

(Source: Vancouver Province)