Two Full Years of Falling Asking Rents in British Columbia

Average asking rent in British Columbia fell 2.9% in September compared with a year earlier, according to the monthly report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. That marks two full years of annual declines — which the report calls the longest downturn the Canadian rental market has experienced in recent history.

The number tracks asking rents, the advertised price on a listing, rather than an average across every existing tenancy. A 2.9% drop in a single month's listings is ordinary; twenty-four consecutive months of them is the part worth noticing.