By Simon Lee, Licensed Property Manager (Stonehaus Realty Corp) | Last updated April 17, 2026
Short version: The furnished rental premium in Metro Vancouver has shrunk to 3-5% for one-bedrooms ($54 to $113 per month on liv.rent data), down from the 15-30% most property management websites still cite. In the suburbs, furnished units now rent for less than unfurnished. Even cheap furniture barely breaks even before it needs replacing, and BC’s deposit cap limits your protection to half a month’s rent no matter how much furniture sits inside the unit. For most landlords in 2026, unfurnished is the better play.
If you own a furnished rental in Metro Vancouver right now, you’ve probably noticed something feels off. The unit sits vacant a little longer between tenants. The rent you’re getting doesn’t feel much higher than the unfurnished place down the hall. And every time you replace a damaged coffee table or deal with another short-term tenant breaking their lease, you wonder if the furniture is actually making money or costing you.
I’m going to show you the numbers. They aren’t what most property management websites are telling you.
How much more can you charge for a furnished rental in Vancouver?
Google “furnished rental premium Vancouver” and you’ll find dozens of articles claiming furnished units command 15-30% more than unfurnished. That figure gets repeated constantly by PM companies, real estate blogs, and listing platforms. It may have been true five years ago. It isn’t true today.
Here’s what liv.rent’s monthly Metro Vancouver Rent Reports (August 2025 through March 2026) actually show for one-bedroom apartments:
| Month | Unfurnished | Furnished | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | ~$2,040 | ~$2,108 | $68/mo (3.3%) |
| October 2025 | ~$2,050 | ~$2,158 | $108/mo (5.3%) |
| December 2025 | ~$2,060 | ~$2,141 | $81/mo (3.9%) |
| March 2026 | $2,061 | $2,174 | $113/mo (5.5%) |
Source: liv.rent Metro Vancouver Rent Reports, Aug 2025 – March 2026.
The furnished premium for a one-bedroom in Metro Vancouver has been bouncing between $54 and $113 per month. That’s 3-5%, not 15-30%. These numbers are for one-bedrooms specifically. Studios and two-bedrooms follow the same pattern, but the actual dollar premium varies by unit size.
And it gets worse outside the city core. In Burnaby, Richmond, Langley, West Vancouver, and New Westminster, the premium has completely disappeared. Furnished units in these areas are actually renting for less than unfurnished ones. If you own a furnished rental in the suburbs, you’re paying for furniture that’s actively suppressing your rent.
Why the furnished rental premium collapsed in Vancouver
The furnished premium is a tight-market surcharge. When vacancy is low, tenants pay extra for convenience because there isn’t much choice. When supply loosens up, they walk next door to an unfurnished unit for less and bring their own furniture. Which is roughly where we are now.
The supply wave. Vancouver completed 2,300 purpose-built market rental units in 2025, the highest annual total in more than 40 years. Of the 12,795 new homes the City approved last year, 80% (10,277 units) were purpose-built rentals. Province-wide, 25,855 purpose-built rental homes were registered in 2025, roughly 40% more than the year before. Metro Vancouver’s purpose-built apartment vacancy rate hit 3.7% in late 2025, the highest level since 1988 according to CMHC’s 2025 Rental Market Report, and more than double the 1.6% from a year earlier. Vancouver apartment rents have been falling for 28 consecutive months, down 4.8% year over year as of March 2026 per BC’s Ministry of Housing update. The longer-run picture is uglier: rents are down 12.2% from their August 2023 peak, and Vancouver has posted the largest three-year decline of any major Canadian market. Landlords are offering one to two months of free rent just to fill units. When tenants have this many options, they stop paying for furniture they didn’t ask for.
The Airbnb flood. BC’s short-term rental crackdown took effect May 1, 2024, restricting STRs to principal residences. Per the BC Ministry of Housing, Vancouver listings dropped 22% between May 2024 and February 2025, and roughly one in ten former BC short-term rentals returned to the long-term market or were put up for sale. That shift added a wave of furnished inventory specifically. Your new competitors are ex-Airbnb units with professional photography and hotel-quality staging, targeting the same tenants you are.
The demand collapse. Federal immigration targets for new temporary residents dropped from 673,650 in 2025 to 385,000 in 2026, a 43% cut. BC has run three consecutive quarters of net outflows of non-permanent residents. These are exactly the people who rent furnished: international workers, students, and newcomers who haven’t bought furniture yet. The tenant pool for furnished units shrank at the same time the supply exploded.
How long does it take for rental furniture to pay for itself?
You can furnish a one-bedroom rental for less than most articles claim. A full IKEA setup (bed frame, mattress, sofa, dining table, chairs, TV stand, coffee table, basic kitchenware) runs $2,500 to $4,000 new. Mix in some Facebook Marketplace finds and you can get under $2,000. Mid-range durable pieces that hold up better in a rental run $5,000 to $8,000.
At the current average premium of roughly $80 per month, here’s the breakeven:
- $3,000 budget setup: 37.5 months (just over 3 years)
- $6,000 mid-range setup: 75 months (6+ years)
That looks almost reasonable for the budget option, until you remember that $3,000 IKEA furniture in a rental lasts 2-3 years before it needs replacing. Mid-range pieces last 3-5. In both cases, you’re replacing furniture right around the time it was supposed to pay for itself.
Now factor in the costs that don’t show up in the rent premium:
- Turnover costs. Furnished tenants average 3-9 month stays vs 12+ months for unfurnished. Each turnover means professional cleaning ($200-500), vacancy marketing, and potential gaps between tenants.
- Furniture damage and replacement. Cushions flatten, upholstery stains, dishes break, a dining chair loses a leg. Every tenant leaves something behind that needs money spent on it.
The quiet killer is turnover plus wear. Furnished tenants cycle every six to nine months; unfurnished tenants usually stay a year or longer. Every cycle costs you a clean, a vacancy gap, and a fresh round of marketing. Pile on a replacement cushion here, a new dining chair there, the odd broken plate set, and by year three you’re mostly buying the furniture over again. An $80 premium doesn’t leave much room to absorb any of that.
Furniture depreciation and replacement costs are deductible business expenses through CCA (Capital Cost Allowance), which softens the hit at tax time. But a tax deduction on a loss is still a loss.
I wrote a separate piece on how I actually price Vancouver rentals that goes into the per-unit math in more detail. The furnished question almost always comes up in those calls.
When the math does work: Downtown two-bedroom units targeting corporate tenants at $500+ per month premiums can break even in 1.5-2.5 years. Executive units commanding $1,000+ premiums break even in under a year. But that’s a narrow slice of the market, not the reality for most furnished landlords in Metro Vancouver.
Can you charge a separate furniture deposit in BC?
Here’s the number that should concern every furnished landlord in BC: the Residential Tenancy Act caps your security deposit at half of one month’s rent. There is no provision for a separate furniture deposit. None.
So if your furnished unit rents for $2,200 per month, your maximum security deposit is $1,100. That $1,100 is supposed to cover damage to the unit and the $3,000-$8,000 worth of furniture inside it.
A tenant who ruins a sofa, scratches a dining table, and breaks a bed frame has caused $3,000-$5,000 in damage against a $1,100 deposit. And “normal wear and tear” on furniture (faded fabric, flattened cushions, minor scuffs) isn’t deductible from the deposit at all. RTB arbitrators generally treat furniture wear the same as wall and floor wear: depreciation is expected, and proving damage beyond normal use is an uphill battle. My full walkthrough on how BC condition inspections actually work at the RTB applies here too: without detailed move-in documentation of every piece of furniture, a damage claim rarely survives.
Your landlord insurance can cover contents, but premiums are higher for furnished units, and claims require documentation, deductibles, and the headache of proving damage vs wear.
LandlordBC’s official advice: choose furnishings “with longevity and ease of cleaning in mind” and never use sentimental or hard-to-replace items. That’s practical guidance. It’s also an acknowledgment that furniture in rentals gets damaged and you have limited recourse.
Which Vancouver neighbourhoods are best for furnished rentals?
The premium hasn’t died everywhere. It’s concentrated in specific neighbourhoods with specific demand drivers.
Furnished viable
| Area | Why | Target Tenant |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown Vancouver | Office towers, convention centre, transit hub | Corporate relocations |
| Coal Harbour | Waterfront luxury, financial district access | Executives |
| Yaletown | Walkable lifestyle district, Seawall | Professionals on assignment |
| Kitsilano (near UBC) | University proximity | Visiting academics, international students |
| Fairview / Broadway Corridor | VGH, future Broadway subway | Medical staff, temporary workers |
| Olympic Village | Modern condos, transit, tech offices nearby | Film industry, young professionals |
Furnished not viable
| Area | Why |
|---|---|
| Surrey / Langley | Family market, no corporate demand, premium is negative |
| Burnaby (most areas) | Suburban, family-dominant tenant pool, premium has collapsed |
| Richmond | Family-oriented, premium disappeared per liv.rent data |
| West Vancouver | Despite high-end market, premium disappeared per liv.rent |
| New Westminster | Affordable market, tenants won’t pay for furniture |
| Coquitlam / Tri-Cities | Suburban family market, no furnished demand driver |
Furnished works within a tight radius of downtown and near institutions (hospitals, universities, film studios) that generate temporary professional demand. Everywhere else, the tenant pool is families and long-term renters who own their furniture and want to personalize their space. (If you’re trying to sort corporate prospects from family renters at the application stage, my tenant screening guide covers how to read the signals without crossing the BC Human Rights Code.)
Unit type matters too. One-bedroom and two-bedroom condos in modern high-rises are the sweet spot for furnished. Basement suites almost never work furnished. Three-bedroom family homes don’t work either. And older buildings without in-suite laundry, dishwashers, and modern finishes won’t attract the corporate tenants who justify the premium.
What about FIFA 2026?
Vancouver is hosting World Cup matches at BC Place in summer 2026, and yes, that will create temporary furnished demand in the downtown core. But be realistic about who captures that demand. Corporate housing companies with inventory, marketing budgets, and booking platforms are positioned for this. An individual landlord with a single furnished condo is competing against organizations like Corporate Stays and National Corporate Housing who do this professionally. A few months of elevated demand doesn’t change the year-round math.
So what should you actually do?
If you already have a furnished unit, the answer depends on where it is and what the numbers say for your specific situation.
If your unit is in the suburbs: Strip the furniture and rent unfurnished. The premium is zero or negative, you’re eating extra costs on insurance and turnover, and your tenant pool is dramatically larger unfurnished. Sell or store the furniture. This isn’t a close call.
If your unit is downtown, Coal Harbour, or Yaletown with a genuine $300+/month premium: Keep it furnished, but get rigorous about the math. Track your actual costs: cleaning between tenants, furniture replacement, and vacancy days. If the premium net of those costs is still positive, it works. If it’s break-even or negative, you’re doing extra work for free. Either way, do a detailed furnishing inventory with dated photos at every move-in and move-out. It’s your only real protection when deposit disputes hit the RTB.
If your unit is in a secondary location (Kits, Fairview, Mount Pleasant) with a thin premium: Test the market unfurnished. List it without furniture for one cycle and compare your net income after accounting for longer tenancy, lower turnover costs, and zero furniture risk. You may find that a stable 12-month unfurnished tenant at $50-100 less per month actually nets you more annually than a revolving door of furnished tenants.
If you inherited a furnished unit from the Airbnb era: You’re in the toughest spot. Your unit is competing against a wave of similar ex-STR conversions with professional staging and hotel-grade furnishings. Unless you’re in a prime downtown location with genuine corporate demand, the competition has moved against you. Switching to unfurnished is reading the room, not giving up.
Frequently asked questions
Should I furnish my rental property in Vancouver?
For most landlords in Metro Vancouver in 2026, no. The furnished rental premium has shrunk to $54-$113 per month for one-bedrooms (3-5%), which doesn’t cover faster turnover, vacancy gaps, and ongoing furniture replacement. The exception is downtown condos (Downtown, Coal Harbour, Yaletown) targeting corporate tenants, where premiums of $300-$500+ per month can still make the numbers work.
How much more rent can I charge for a furnished unit in Vancouver?
According to liv.rent data from March 2026, furnished one-bedrooms in Metro Vancouver rent for about $113 per month more than unfurnished ($2,174 vs $2,061). In 2025, the premium ranged from $54 to $108 per month. In suburban cities like Burnaby, Richmond, and Langley, furnished units actually rent for less than unfurnished.
Can a landlord charge a furniture deposit in BC?
No. BC’s Residential Tenancy Act caps your total security deposit at half a month’s rent. No separate furniture deposit exists. So $3,000-$8,000 of furniture in a $2,200 per month unit gets $1,100 of protection.
How much does it cost to furnish a rental unit in Vancouver?
A full IKEA setup for a one-bedroom runs $2,500 to $4,000 new. Mid-range durable pieces cost $5,000 to $8,000. At the current average premium of $80 per month, even the budget option takes over 3 years to break even, right around when you’ll need to replace it. Factor in faster turnover and ongoing furniture replacement and most units stay underwater.
What happened to Airbnb units in Vancouver after the STR crackdown?
BC’s short-term rental restrictions took effect May 1, 2024. Within a year, Vancouver Airbnb listings had dropped 22% (May 2024 to February 2025, per BC Ministry of Housing), and roughly 10% of BC’s former STR units returned to the long-term market or were listed for sale, adding furnished inventory that compressed premiums.
What’s the vacancy rate in Vancouver right now?
3.7% for purpose-built rentals per CMHC’s 2025 Rental Market Report (released January 2026). That’s the highest level since 1988, more than double the 1.6% from the year before. Vancouver apartment rents have been falling for 28 consecutive months, down 4.8% year over year as of March 2026 (BC Ministry of Housing).
The bottom line
The furnished rental premium in Metro Vancouver has fallen from 15-30% to 3-5% for one-bedrooms, and has gone negative in the suburbs. The math doesn’t work for most units at current premiums, especially after factoring in turnover, vacancy, and furniture that keeps needing replacement.
Every force in the market is pushing the same direction right now: vacancy at a 37-year high, rents falling for 28 months straight, ex-Airbnb inventory crowding the furnished segment, and immigration-driven demand dropping at the same time. BC’s deposit cap does the rest, and your furniture sits chronically underprotected.
Furnished still works in a narrow band: downtown high-rise condos near the financial district, hospitals, and universities, targeting corporate and institutional tenants at genuine premiums of $300+ per month. For everyone else, the smartest move in 2026 might be selling the furniture and renting the unit for what it is: a home.
One caveat: this market won’t last forever. Condo starts dropped 13.4% in the first half of 2025, and developers are pulling back because rents are falling and construction costs remain high. If supply tightens and immigration rebounds, the premium could return. Don’t burn furniture you might need in two years. But don’t keep losing money on it while you wait, either.
Simon Lee is a licensed property manager at Stonehaus Realty Corp, managing residential rental properties across Greater Vancouver. For questions about furnished rentals, screening corporate tenants, or Vancouver rental strategy, reach out at simon@merestonepm.com or visit merestonepm.com.
