Average rent for two-bedroom apartments in Hamilton nearing $2,300

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Hamilton shot up by more than $100 in January, a new report has found.

One-bedroom units in Steeltown now cost new tenants an average of $1,868 a month, according to a national rent report from property listing service Rentals.ca.

That number marks a 5.9 per cent increase from December and a 19.6 per cent jump from last January.

Two-bedroom flats in the city now rent for an average of $2,280 - a more than six per cent increase from December, but a more dramatic surge of nearly 22 per cent since last January.

The latest rent report comes just weeks after an analysis from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) found that most empty units in the city last year were only affordable to those earning a yearly salary of $65,000 or more. For a rental to be considered affordable in the eyes of CMHC, 30 per cent or less of an individual's income would go toward rent.

Hamilton's rental rates are also much higher than the national averages for both unit types, according to the report.

The city continues to be one of the top 20 most expensive places to rent among the 35 Canadian communities included in the report.

Around the region

While Hamilton's rental rates continue to skyrocket year over year, some nearby communities continue to be more expensive for renters, according to the report.

In Burlington, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $2,210, while two-bedroom units cost $2,519.

In Guelph, one-bedroom apartments are going for an average of $2,003, while two-bedroom flats cost tenants around $2,351.

In Kitchener, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $1,943, while the average rent for a two-bedroom unit sits at $2,398.

Meanwhile, St. Catharines continues to be cheaper for renters, with the average price of a one-bedroom apartment at $1,581, and the average rent for a two-bedroom unit at around $1,910.

Rentals.ca's latest rent rankings, analyzed and written by residential real estate research firm Urbanation, are the average of all monthly listings from Rentals.ca and Rentfaster.ca. That includes basement apartments, condos and units in single-detached homes.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com