Though Toronto is known to rival Vancouver for having the highest cost of living of any major city in the country, the 6ix is actually getting cheaper, at least when it comes to one crucial bill: rent.
A new report on rental prices nationwide shows that Canada’s largest metropolis has fallen from its second-place spot of most outrageous monthly rates — at least for one-bedroom units — now coming behind both Vancouver and Burnaby, B.C., on the top ten list.
The data from listing site Zumper, show that the median rent for a one-bedroom in the city is now $2,300, compared to $2,400 in Burnaby and $2,550 in Vancouver. This figure is 1.6 per cent less than last month’s average, and 6.1 per cent lower than one-bedroom prices the same time last year, marking the second-largest year-over-year rent decline of any locale on the list.
The cost of a typical one-bedroom apartment in Canada in general fell 0.4 per cent month-over-month and 1.5 per cent year-over-year (to an average of $1,856 per month). Two-bedroom prices, meanwhile, lowered by 0.7 per cent month-over-month and 1.7 per cent year-over-year (to $2,297 a month).
Toronto fell from second to third place for the priciest one-bedroom rents in Canada in February. Graph from Zumper.
“Several factors are putting downward pressure on Canada’s rental market. A surge in rental completions has significantly increased supply. The number of rental unit starts has nearly doubled since 2018, increasing due to various government incentives. This influx of new units has expanded options for renters, easing the historically tight market conditions,” Zumper writes.
“The inventory boom has been particularly pronounced in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where unit completions have outpaced population growth. Additionally, recent immigration policy changes are further easing rental demand, with lower immigration targets already slowing population growth among international students and workers.”
Organizations on the condo-building side, though, would likely beg to differ, forever advocating that various levels of government reduce red tape to help achieve their goal of building more homes, faster.
New home construction across Ontario has also fallen off in the face of dwindling interest in the real estate sector, though Toronto’s market remains overrun with tens of thousands of homes, unsold and, for many, still too unaffordable.
Ontario rent prices continue to plunge to levels unseen for yearshttps://t.co/spvGnBrumD
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 10, 2025
The downward trend of rent prices in this landscape has been progressive for a number of months, and is likely to continue until demand and home sales pick back up.
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