To some extent, SIGNAL can absorb a softening of rents because it started the project several years ago when construction costs were lower.
Article by The Vancouver Sun,
Developers warn the glut of rental units and softening of rental prices won’t last forever in Vancouver
The near completion in South Vancouver of one of the city’s biggest purpose-built rental projects comes at a time when prospective tenants have more options — and bargaining power — than they’ve had in years.
But developers warn the glut of rental units and softening of rental prices in the city could be short-lived.
The SIGNAL project, built by Intracorp Homes and Oxford Properties, consists of 27- and 32-storey towers, with more than 500 units at the south end of the Cambie Street corridor next to the Marine Drive Canada Line Station.
Evan Allegretto, president for B.C. at Intracorp Homes, said they’re being aggressive to attract renters at the right price.
But as costs go up and rents go down for developers who are mostly carrying these kinds of market-rental projects and looking to start new ones, it will be more challenging to make a profit, break even or stem losses, so fewer will venture to build them.
“We have a runway, call it 18 to maybe 24 months, where there will be a lot of competition (to get tenants), but once that supply gets eaten up, there’s going to be nothing to backfill,” said Allegretto.
In the near-term though, thousands more rental units are expected to come onto the Vancouver market in the next couple of years. One of the largest, most-anticipated ones is the Sen̓áḵw project in Kitsilano, which will add 1,600 units when the first three of 11 planned buildings start leasing at the end of this year. It’s being developed by the Squamish Nation, Nch’Kay Development Corp., the nation’s economic arm, and Westbank.
SIGNAL is next in size after Sen̓áḵw.
Two other projects — one along the Cambie Corridor and another in the Marpole area — will add another 400 units.
All told, there are about 6,000 purpose-built rental units that could come onto the Vancouver market in the next two years, according to Jon Bennest of Zonda Urban, which tracks real estate data for developers. There isn’t a list of completion dates for these rental projects, but just over 2,000 of these are in the latter stages of development and it’s reasonable to assume they will be completed within the next 12 months.
By comparison, between January 2024 and June 2025, there were about 1,000 new rental completions, which was far less than the demand for new rentals, said Bennest.
Allegretto cited among the biggest draws of the SIGNAL project is its proximity to transit to downtown Vancouver, Richmond and the Vancouver airport, as well as to stores, restaurants, health services, a movie theatre and parks.
“While there’s going to be a ton of supply coming on, the strength of the location and the product that we’re offering and the pricing, it’ll be hard to beat,” he said.
“The way we have built this project is we have focused on building a community,” said Josh Giancola of Oxford Properties, adding that in addition to studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, there are amenities for pets and cycling infrastructure that help the project stand out against smaller ones.
It’s the first time in a really long time, said Allegretto, that renters in Vancouver have the luxury of choice and are seeing competition in the market from developers.
According to Statistics Canada, the average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver dropped from $3,440 in the first quarter of 2024 to $3,170 in the first quarter of 2025 — though this was still the highest in the country, followed by Toronto at $2,690.
Giancola said there will be published rents for units at SIGNAL in the next month or so. Starting rent on a studio will be around $2,300 and the smallest of these is about 410 square feet. In addition to the typical marketing campaign with online ads and physical signs on transit and the property itself, they’re working with a local brokerage to reach prospective tenants and help them understand how their budgets can fit with available units.
