Two years ago, Jordan Harding remembers waiting for an apartment in the Glebe. He was told rent would be $1,375 per month. Six months later when it became available, he said the rent had increased to $1,750, almost 30 per cent more.
Harding isn’t the only one to notice dramatic rent increases in Ottawa. Across the city and its surrounding areas, rent has been crawling – and in some places leaping – up.
On average, rent in Ottawa has increased 14.2 per cent from 2011 to 2016, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada’s 2016 census data. Areas in Gloucester, Nepean and Alta Vista have seen increases higher than 50 per cent.
There are several factors that can contribute to rent increases, said Anne-Marie Shaker, senior analyst with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The corporation reports on housing statistics across the country, and Shaker wrote the report on the 2016 rental market in Ottawa.
According to Shaker, renovations to existing buildings and completions of new ones are two main factors causing dramatic rent increases. The newer units and buildings have more amenities, so landlords can charge higher rent. In areas like the Glebe, where few buildings are being constructed, renovations are a more likely factor driving up rent prices.
Ontario’s rental prices are controlled by the province. Existing tenants can only have their rent increased every 12 months, and only by around two per cent. The number varies year by year depending on the market, but hovers around two per cent. New tenants can be charged what the landlords ask, but can only have their rent increased after 12 months in the unit.
Harding decided not to take the Glebe apartment and found a two-bedroom house in Ottawa’s west end, near Nepean.
It’s an old wooden house – the kind that creaks when the heat comes on – that costs him $1,850 per month, excluding utilities. According to data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation on completed rental units in Ottawa, Nepean saw one of the hightest growths in new rental units from 2011 to 2016.
These new units, according to Shaker, are a factor that drive up rent prices for the surrounding buildings, like Harding’s.
“It’s not reasonable at all,” said Harding, a website developer who works primarily from home, stacking three monitors, speakers and two servers on his kitchen table. “I’ve rented three-bedroom penthouses 10 years ago in Ottawa for $1,050.”
Renters would be hard-pressed to find many apartments at that price anywhere in Ottawa now, with average rent crawling up to $1,440 in 2016 according to the census data.
Some areas of Ottawa saw increases in rent as high as 87 per cent. That’s more than 17 per cent per year, significantly above Ontario’s rent increase guidelines which hover around two per cent.
Peter Dazé, another long-time Ottawa renter, said he has seen an increase every year for 25 years, although it’s rarely more than the two per cent guideline.
“If I didn’t get an increase, I would think something was wrong,” said Dazé from his office at Public Services and Procurement Canada. “I expect an increase, always, always, always.”
He admitted that such increases can pose challenges. “Some years, I’ve gotten rent increases, but my salary did not go up during those years,” he said. “So it causes some grief, some stress.”
It was that stress that inspired Harding to create a website, rentalreport.ca. It’s a portal for renters across Canada to share information about their unit, like cost of rent.
“It’s just good for people to know what they’re getting themselves into,” said Harding. He said knowing the previous tenant’s rent could be “a good bargaining chip” in lowering rent prices.
Harding is set to move back to the Glebe next month, into a two-bedroom apartment for $2,500. While he said it’s way more than he’d like to pay in rent, it’s still cheaper than buying it.
Featured photo: New buildings can drive up the rent of the surrounding buildings, says Anne-Marie Shaker with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. | Photo by Rachel Levy-McLaughlin