It's made to sound glacial.

“Canada’s (and Kelowna’s) rental market is caught in a slow thaw,” said Crystal Chen, marketing manager at Zumper, the online platform that lists apartments for rent and generates the monthly Canadian Rent Report.

What Chen is talking about is Kelowna’s incremental rebound starting after the median monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment bottomed out at $1,690 in January.

In February it inched up to $1,700 and in March up 2.9% to $1,750.

Even with the recent bumps, current rents are still significantly lower than the record high of $2,010 in June 2025.

Photo credits: ZumperCrystal Chen is the marketing manager at Zumper, the online platform that lists apartments for rent and generates the monthly Canadian Rent Report.

What has happened with Kelowna apartment rents has been well documented.

In 2023, the rental vacancy rate in the city was a low 1.3%, meaning at any given time there were only 1.3 of every 100 apartments available for rent.

That meant competition for every empty apartment, pushing up the cost.

To solve the problem all levels of government worked together to offer developers incentives (tax breaks, density bonuses and fast approvals) to build rental apartment buildings.

It worked like a charm in Kelowna, igniting a building boom of 6-storey apartment complexes.

The rental vacancy rate soared to 6% and landlords dropped prices because potential tenants could afford to shop around.

In many cases, landlords were, and still are, offering incentives like one or two months free rent, free parking, free wifi and move-in bonuses of $500 or $1,000.

Lower rents have helped some people get into apartments — either existing renters moving to a bigger and better place, those that had roommates moving out to get their own apartment or those living with parents getting their first apartment.

Despite overall lower rents, Kelowna's housing market is considered unaffordable for many.

The rough economy, global uncertainty, stagnant wages and high cost of groceries, gas and utilities mean many people are staying put or only making cautious decisions.

While Kelowna's rents are moving up slowly, it's enough to attract national attention.

"The Okanagan city made the biggest move in the top 10, rising 3 positions on the strength of a 2.9% monthly one-bedroom gain," said Chen.

"Kelowna enters the top 10 for the first time in several months."

At it's softest, Kelowna was the 14th most expensive city in the country to rent an apartment.

Now it's the 9th most expensive.

In the post-pandemic boom, Kelowna was the 3rd most expensive in Canada.

While the Zumper report pegs the median monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment in the city at $1,750, the two-bedroom rent in March was steady at $2,100.

In September 2023, two-bed rent was as high at $2,700.

Cities that are more expensive than Kelowna are: Vancouver at $2,400 and $3,370, Burnaby with $2,200 and $2,800, Toronto at $2,110 and $2,700, Halifax with $2,050 and $2,500, Kingston at $2,019 and $2,470, Victoria with $1,989 and $2,580, Ottawa at $1,950 and $2,450 and Montreal with $1,800 and $2,280.

The cheapest rents are in Regina ($1,240 snf $1,470), Edmonton ($1,240 and $1,600), Windsor ($1,350 and $1,630), Saskatoon ($1,350 and $1,600) and Quebec City ($1,350 and $1,670).