Here's how much it cost to rent an apartment in Ottawa in June

A for rent sign is displayed on a house in a new housing development in Ottawa on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The average cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment in the capital surpassed $2,000 a month in June, as rental rates continued to rise in Ottawa and across Canada.

A new report from Rentals.ca shows the average cost to rent an apartment in Ottawa was $2,146 last month, up 15.3 per cent from June 2022.  

The Rentals.ca report shows the cost to rent a one-bedroom purpose built and condominium apartment in Ottawa was $2,003 a month in June, up 15 per cent from a year ago.

A bachelor apartment cost $1,612 to rent in June, while a two-bedroom cost $2,443 a month and a three-bedroom cost $2,665.

Vancouver has the highest average rent in Canada at $3,301 a month, followed by Burnaby, BC at $2,973 and Toronto at $2,813.

The average asking price for a rental unit in Canada reached a record $2,042 in June amid continued interest rate hikes, population expansion and low unemployment.

"There's an awful lot going on that's making this happen besides immigration and also the high interest rates," Paul Danison, content director of Rentals.ca, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron.

"Really, the governments at all levels – federal, provincial and municipal – need to sit down and figure out what to do about this. It's not an easy problem; there's a lot of little fixes that could be done but they need to sit down and start talking about it."

Denison says the interest rate hikes adds to the rental demand, "because a lot of people who might get into the housing market and buy stay on the sidelines."

"They don't want to pay the high interest rates they're going to have to pay."

Rentals.ca says the average asking rents in Canada have increased by 20 per cent over the past two years, by an average of $341.

Ottawa is the third most expensive city to rent an apartment of Canada's largest markets. The average cost to rent an apartment is $2,000 in Calgary, $1,931 a month in Montreal and $1,368 in Edmonton.

The average cost to rent an apartment in Gatineau was $1,816 a month, up 7.4 per cent from June 2022. A one-bedroom apartment cost $1,712 a month to rent in Gatineau, while a two-bedroom costs $1,871.

Looking for a roommate

Rentals.ca says the average cost to rent with a roommate in Ottawa increased more than $90 in June, compared to a year ago.

The average asking rent for a roommate rental was $947 last month, up from $855 a year ago.

With files from The Canadian Press