REW.ca Moves into the Rental Market

The Canadian property portal REW.ca has expanded its offering to include rental properties. The portal has traditionally been strong in the sales market on the West Coast of Canada but had not jumped into the rental market to take on the likes of Zumper, Padmapper, and Craigslist until now. 

Citing the high percentage of rental stock previously listed on Airbnb in the portal’s native city of Vancouver, recently appointed REW President Simon Bray said:

“That took a lot of inventory out of the long-term rental market and was bad for the affordability of rentals, generally, because tenants would have to pay more to get into a diminishing pool of stock.”

Although REW.ca may well have made the leap into rentals in 2020 anyway, the fact that a lot of inventory is coming off Airbnb and back to the long term rentals market may have accelerated the process.

Another reason cited for the portal’s move into rentals are the results of a survey the company conducted of its subscribers showing that the pandemic has affected people’s financial situation and ability to buy a home. Bray commented that this would likely keep many people renting rather than buying in the expensive urban areas where REW has traditionally been strong.