Skyrocketing rents in Hamilton causing some residents to ‘to fall further and further behind’
While rising interest rates have cooled the Hamilton real estate market, the cost of rent in the city continued to ascend to new heights in May, a recent report has found.
Two-bedroom flats in Steeltown are now costing renters an average of $2,063 a month, nearly four per cent more than in April and 10 per cent more than in May 2021, according to a national rent report from property listing service Rentals.ca.
In April, the cost for a two-bedroom unit in the city increased by less than one per cent from March.
Bullpen Research & Consulting, the residential real estate advisory firm that crunches the numbers for Rentals.ca, attributed some of that swell to the state of uncertainty" in the country's housing market.
Interest rate hikes dissuaded would-be buyers from leaving the rental market," said Ben Myers, president of the real estate firm, in a press release. Myers described rent increases in the first four months of the year as relatively flat" in comparison.
The firm noted that supply chain delays and labour stoppages affecting new housing supply will likely continue to put upward pressure on rents into the fall of this year in the face of increased demand."
The rent for one-bedroom apartments have also crept up further, with units costing tenants an average of $1,603 a month - marking a three per cent jump from April and 11 per cent more than in May 2021.
Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, told The Spectator the rising cost of rent in the city is causing some Hamiltonians to fall further and further behind."
The situation only worsens for those who live alone, have children or rely on social assistance programs such as Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
People are spending upwards of 60 to 80 per cent of their incomes on rent," said Cooper, who noted there is little money leftover for other needs. It makes it nearly impossible for individuals to make ends meet."
He pointed to the need for the provincial government to bring back a vacancy control policy - which limits rent increases on vacant units - to ensure tenants aren't facing runaway rental prices."
A look around the region
While Hamilton's rental rates have climbed to new highs, some neighbouring communities continued to outpace the city last month, according to the report.
In Burlington, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $1,978, while two-bedroom units cost $2,331.
In Guelph, one-bedroom apartments are going for an average of $1,950, while two-bedroom flats cost tenants around $2,156.
In Kitchener, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment costs around $1,839, while two-bedroom units cost around $2,179.
In London, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $1,678, while the average rent for a two-bedroom unit sits at $2,023.
However, in St. Catharines, a one-bedroom apartment costs an average of $1,451 and two-bedroom apartments cost around $1,899.
Rentals.ca's latest rent rankings, published with residential real estate advisory firm Bullpen Research and Consulting Inc., are the average of all monthly listings on the website.
They include basement apartments, rental apartments, condos, townhouses, semi-detached and single-detached homes.
Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com