ALY6070 · GROUP 1 · June 23rd 2026

BC Housing Affordability
for Renters

An analysis of 196 observations across 7 British Columbia (BC) Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) from 2019 to 2025, examining the Rent-to-Income Ratio (RTIR) and affordability stress under the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) 30% standard.

7

CMAs Analyzed

28

Quarters 2019–2025

45.6%

Peak RTIR — Vancouver 2-Bedroom

30%

CMHC Affordability Limit

Jiayi Chen

Dashboard 1 — Regional Rent Comparison

R SHINY

Tzu-Ying Yang

Dashboard 2 — Rent Trends Over Time

R SHINY TABLEAU

Lissette Diaz

Dashboard 3 — Affordability Analysis · EDA · Dataset

R SHINY TABLEAU

Business Question

Is renting becoming less affordable across BC's major cities — and which regions are most at risk for renters?

6 Research Questions

How have asking rents changed across BC CMAs from 2019 to 2025, and which unit types saw the greatest increases?
Which CMAs are the most and least expensive, and how does market rent compare to quarterly rent paid?
In which CMAs are renters spending more than 30% of income on housing, and how has this changed over time?
Where in BC is renting least affordable?
Is rent rising faster than income — and is that what's driving the affordability gap?
How has each CMA's affordability ranking shifted over time?

2

Data Cleaning & EDA

Lissette Diaz · EDA

Dataset Summary

Attribute	Value
Source	BC Data Catalogue — Rental Market
Observations	196 (7 CMAs × 28 quarters)
Period	Q1 2019 – Q4 2025
Unit types	1 Bedroom (1BR) · 2 Bedroom (2BR)
Key metric	RTIR = (Rent × 12) / Income

Cleaning Decisions

❌ 3BR dropped — 57.7% missing values
❌ Quarterly Rent dropped — Asking Rent is the market signal
✅ 0 impossible RTIR values after cleaning
✅ Income verified against StatsCan benchmarks
✅ Rent–RTIR correlation: r ≈ 0.95
✅ Only Vancouver crossed 30% RTIR for 1 Bedroom
🔴 3 cities crossed 30% for 2 Bedroom: Vancouver, Kelowna, Victoria

EDA — Rent vs. RTIR Correlation: Higher rents = Less affordable. How strong is the link?

3

Regional Rent Comparison

Jiayi Chen · Dashboard 1

Rent Distribution by City & Unit Type

💰 Vancouver: widest rent range

Highest variability — luxury units push upper quartile far above median

🏠 1BR vs 2BR gap

Two-bedroom units cost 45–65% more across all cities throughout the study period

✅ Kamloops & Chilliwack most affordable

Remain below $1,600/mo for 1BR — consistently under median income stress

⚡ Kelowna fastest growth

Overtook Victoria for 2BR median rent in 2022; driven by remote worker migration

RENT GROWTH 2019 → 2025 BY CITY

4

Rent Trends Over Time

Tzu-Ying Yang · Dashboard 2

Avg 1BR Asking Rent by City (2019–2025)

Avg 2BR Asking Rent by City (2019–2025)

1BR Rent: 2019 vs 2025

🏙️ Vancouver leads every year

Avg 1BR exceeded $2,000/mo — highest across all 7 CMAs

📈 Post-COVID surge 2020–2023

All CMAs saw 26–55% rent increases; Nanaimo grew fastest (+55%), followed by Abbotsford-Mission (+49%)

🏙️ Vancouver: highest absolute rent, smallest % growth

Rose from $1,882 to $2,368 (+26%) — the lowest growth rate among all 7 CMAs, yet remains the most expensive by far

📊 Smaller cities are catching up

Nanaimo, Abbotsford-Mission, and Kamloops all grew faster than Vancouver — the rent gap between large and small CMAs is narrowing

Tableau T2 — Rent vs. Income Over Time (1BR) · By City

🔴 Red = Asking Rent (1BR, monthly) · 🟢 Green = Implied Annual Income

The green line shows the annual household income implied by the RTIR (i.e. income = rent × 12 ÷ RTIR%). It is a derived benchmark — not independently surveyed household income. When rent rises faster than this implied income, affordability is worsening.

5

Affordability Analysis

Lissette Diaz · Dashboard 3

2BR RTIR Heatmap — Affordability by City & Year

Tableau T3 — Affordability Ranking & RTIR Trend

🟥 Vancouver = #1 least affordable — every year

2BR RTIR peaked at 45.6% in Q3 2023 — renters spent nearly half their income

📍 3 cities crossed 30% threshold for 2BR

Vancouver, Kelowna, and Victoria all exceeded the CMHC affordability limit

6

Conclusions & Call to Action

🏠

Vancouver's 2BR RTIR peaked at 45.6% in Q3 2023 — nearly 3× the CMHC 30% guideline

📈

Rents rose 26–55% province-wide between 2019–2025; implied household income grew 19–30% by CMA — the gap is widest in Nanaimo and Abbotsford-Mission

🌍

Affordability stress is spreading — Kelowna and Victoria crossed 30% RTIR for 2BR; smaller cities converging

📊

Rent growth, not income decline, is the primary driver of unaffordability (r ≈ 0.95)

🔔

Policymakers should monitor RTIR thresholds — not just median rents — to target housing subsidies effectively

Story Across 3 Dashboards

① Rent Trends (Tzu-Ying)
Rents climbed steadily post-COVID in all 7 CMAs; Nanaimo grew fastest (+55%) while Vancouver remained most expensive

② Regional Comparison (Jiayi)
Wide variation exists — Kamloops remains affordable while coastal & resort cities surge

③ Affordability Analysis (Lissette)
Converting rent to % of income reveals the real crisis — RTIR heatmap & Tableau Story show few cities remain under 30% for 2BR

"BC's rental affordability crisis is real, measurable, and spreading into secondary markets."

BC Housing Affordabilityfor Renters