BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West
While the overall trend in the price of renting an apartment or condo is going down across the country, the price of rental housing in Pointe Claire is going up slightly, according to the latest statistics released by Rentals.ca.
The average price of leasing an apartment or condo in Pointe Claire in July was $2,227, according to the Rentals.ca’s August report. That is up slightly from $2,207 recorded in April.
Rental.ca compiles data from its national rental listings data base in collaboration with Urbanization, a Toronto-based real estate research firm.
Although the average rent in Pointe Claire edged upward by less than 1 per cent, the trend was in the opposite direction of the national average, which saw rents drop by 3.6 per cent compared with this time last year, according to the report.
“Asking rents in Canada averaged $2,121 in July, down $4 from June and $80 from the same time last year, marking the 10th consecutive month of declining rents,” the report stated. “The 3.6-per-cent year-over-year rent decline in July is greater than the 2.7-per-cent decline recorded in June and suggests that rent declines are likely to continue compounding.”
The latest report, released last week, listed Pointe Claire in last spot among the Top 25 markets with the highest average asking rents for apartments and condominiums in the country, making it the second-highest most-expensive rental market in Quebec, according to Rentals.ca. Westmount was the highest ranked market in the province, where asking rents in July averaged $2,563 per month. The highest monthly rents in Canada were being sought in North Vancouver, where the average was $3,043. Montreal did not make the Top 25 list.
The lowest average rent was recorded in Lloydminster, Alberta, at $1,203. The lowest in Quebec was found in Quebec City, where the average rent was pegged at $1,595.
The overall average rent for the Greater Montreal region in July was $1,971, which represents a 1.6-per-cent decline from the same time last year. The overall average rent for the Montreal region in July was $256 per month lower than in Pointe Claire, a difference of slightly under 13 per cent.