Apartment landlords are at a crossroads in Kelowna.

They want to continue to charge high rents.

However, with up to 2,000 more apartments expected to flood the market this year the pressure is on to drop rents as competition heats up.

Yet, the bottom line is potential tenants have more choice and they want a deal.

The compromise for now is landlords continue to charge hefty rents, but many are offering one-or-two months free rent if a tenant signs a 14-month lease.

The scenario lets landlords keep face and renters pay less.

This fine balance bears out in new data from Zumper, the online platform that lists apartments for rent and compiles the monthly Canadian Rent Report.

Photo credit: ZumperIn February, a typical one-bedroom apartment was renting for $1,930 a month, a two-bed $2,320.

For Kelowna last month, the report pegs the median monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment in the city at $1,930, up slightly from $1,910 in January and $80 off the record-high of $2,010 in August 2024.

For a typical two-bedroom apartment the monthly median in February was $2,230, down from $2,320 in January and well off the record-high of $2,700 in September 2023.

With these numbers, Kelowna maintains its status as the 8th most expensive city in the country to rent an apartment behind Vancouver ($2,540 for a one-bed and $3,490 for a two-bed), Burnaby ($2,370 and $3,000), Toronto ($2,310 and $2,980), Victoria ($2,060 and $2,750), Halifax ($2,060 and $2,400), Ottawa ($1,970 and $2,400) and Barrie ($1,950 and $2,150).

In an interview with KelownaNow earlier this month, the City of Kelowna's director of planning and development, Ryan Smith, explained the crossroads further.

Along with Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation, the city has offered tax incentives, allowed additional density, reduced red tape, sped up approvals and eased strict parking provisions to encourage developers to build more rental apartment buildings.

It's a scheme to address the housing shortage and increase affordability.

And, it's working.

As previously mentioned, 2,000 more rental apartments are expected to be finished and come on the market this year.

That's on top of the deluge of apartments that have already come on the market in the past couple of years and helped meet the pent up demand.

Kelowna is now estimated to have 24,000 rental units, which accounts for about one-third of the total 75,000 homes in the city, which counts all single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses, condominiums and apartments.

Smith expects one-month-free-rent incentives won't cut it anymore moving further into 2025 and landlords will have to start dropping rents.

He also estimates the rental vacancy rate is likely around 5 or 6%, up from the official 3.8% Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation came up with in October of last year.

After the shortages and unaffordability of the recent past, an abundance of apartments and lower rents are welcome for residents.

It means people that have roommates, but would rather live on their own, can get their own apartment.

It means young adults who were stuck at home with their parents because they couldn't afford their own place can maybe now make a move.

It means people living in basement suites or older apartment buildings might upgrade and rent in a new building.

The cities with the cheapest apartment rents are Regina ($1,240 and $1,450), Saskatoon ($1,260 and $1,500), Edmonton ($1,300 and $1,600) and Quebec City ($1,390 and $1,750).

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