All of a sudden, there are a lot of apartments out there in Kelowna.

And, too many of them are sitting empty.

That forces landlords into overdrive to drop rents, offer one-two-and-three months free rent deals, move-in bonuses, free parking and free wifi.

In fact, the median monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment in Kelowna in November was $1,800, according to the Canadian Rent Report put out by Zumper, the online platform that lists apartments for rent.

That's the lowest it's been since August 2023, which was 27 months ago.

And, the $1,800 is a far cry from the record-high $2,010 of June 2025, which was only five months ago.

Photo credit: ZumperKelowna's seen a construction boom of new apartment buildings over the past three years.

What's happened to the Kelowna apartment rental market to change it so dramatically and so quickly can be narrowed down to one word — glut.

Bottom line is there are more apartments available for rent than people who want to rent them.

It was only a couple of years ago that had an apartment vacancy rate of 1.3%.

That means for every 100 apartments in the city, only 1.3 of them would be available for rent any given month.

Such a tight market meant demand was greater than supply, so landlords could charge expensive rents and get away with it.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

The apartment vacancy rate is now estimated to be about 6%.

So, five times as many apartments are available any given month.

The power has switched over to potential renters and landlords are responding with slashed rents and all those aforementioned incentives to get tenants to sign on the dotted line.

Photo credit: ZumperOne or two months free rent incentives abound in Kelowna.

This has all happened by design.

Three years ago, with a ultra-low vacancy rate, not enough apartments being built and a buzzing economy full of people looking for rentals, the federal, provincial and municipal governments worked together to create a purpose-built rental building boom.

That's why you're seeing those 6-storey apartment complexes popping up all over the city.

Developers took advantage of perks like tax incentives, preferential financing, speedy approvals, more density, reduced red tape and eased parking requirements to build as many apartment buildings as possible, as quickly as possible.

In fact, from March 2025 to March 2026, an estimated 2,000 additional apartments are expected to be completed in Kelowna and come onto the market as rentals.

That's about a 10% addition to the existing 24,000 rental units in Kelowna.

With a total of about 75,000 homes of all types (single-family, fourplex, duplex, townhouse, condominium and rental apartments) in Kelowna, rental apartments will soon make up more than one-third of the city's total housing inventory.

While that median monthly rent on a typical one-bedroom apartment may be down to $1,800 in Kelowna, it is still considered unaffordable for many.

In today's tough economy, there are still lots of people living with their parents or roommates when they would rather have a place of their own — but they simply can't afford to do so.

Developer Renee Merrifield, the CEO of Troika Group, built some of those aforementioned 6-storey apartment buildings — such as 285 Dougall and 1110 Lawson.

285 Dougall is now renting and offering two months free rent when you sign a lease and a $750 move-in bonus.

"The rental market is saturated right now," admits Merrifield.

"For 15 years there were hardly any purpose-built rentals built in Kelowna and then all this construction for the past two years. The vacancy rate will peak next year and then it will fall off a cliff because the incentives to build have gone away and nothing will get built again for a while."

Cassidy deVeer, the executive officer of the Central Okanagan branch of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, concurs.

"The purpose-built rentals incentives led to lots of construction, the glut we have now and lower rents," she explained.

"But with no more incentives and the high cost of construction, it no longer makes sense to build purpose-built rentals. The only options for developers right now to get a government contract to do some subsidized housing, an adult living community or renovations."

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