Looking to rent in Oshawa? Get ready to pay the price

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Continuing its slow climb up the chart, the city of Oshawa is now ranked in the top 10 most expensive places to rent in Canada, according to a new report from PadMapper.

A lack of affordable rental units and proximity to the expensive market of Toronto are two of the big culprits pushing Oshawa up the charts when it comes to the prices for places to rent.

At the top of the list, with a median price of nearly $2,000 for a one-bedroom unit is Vancouver, followed by Toronto at $1,790. Victoria, Barrie, Ottawa and Montreal fill out the middle of the top 10 with Calgary and Kington even in the seventh position at $1,080. Oshawa comes in the ninth spot, tied with Kelowna, BC at $1,030.

“In the last few months, Oshawa has seen a steady growth in rent prices,” says Crystal Chen, a data analyst with PadMapper.

Chen says that people who are being priced out of the increasingly expensive Toronto market are now looking outside the city for a place to rent. This increased demand is pushing the cost of renting in Oshawa skyward.

Over the last month alone the price for a one-bedroom apartment grew by 5.1 per cent. A similar trend is also being seen further north in Barrie where prices have increased 4.5 per cent in the last month.

“Since the GTA does not seem like rental prices will taper off significantly in the near future, the cities outside the GTA, like Oshawa and Barrie, will continue to see increased demand for their more affordable rental units,” Chen says. “Until new apartments supplies are built to meet these increased demands, rent prices will continue to grow, especially going into the summer moving season.”

It would appear the GTA is also not alone in this trend as 14 out of the 25 most populous metro areas in the country have experienced rising prices over the last month.

The PadMapper Rent Report analyzes rental data from hundreds of thousands of active listings across the country. The data is then used to calculate a median asking price for rental units for the 25 most populous metro areas.

One bedroom costs

1. Vancouver – $1,950
2. Toronto – $1,790
3. Victoria – $1,180
4. Barrie – $1,150
5. Ottawa – $1,090
6. Montreal – $1,080
7. Calgary – $1,050
8. Kingston – $1,050
9. Oshawa – $1,030
10. Kelowna – $1,030