Looking for a rental this spring? You might have an easier time than last year, new listing data shows, with the average asking price in Toronto for rented condos or purpose-built apartments now $120-a-month cheaper than it was a year ago.
The downward pressure on asking rents in the last year, observed in Toronto and cities across the country, comes as population growth has slowed and a surge of new apartments have entered the Canadian rental market, Rentals.ca’s Giacomo Ladas says — units that began development during the record-low interest rates of the pandemic, before today’s market slowdown.
But any tenants on the hunt will likely still face sticker shock, if they haven’t entered the market since before the COVID-19 years. The new figures, from listing platform Rentals.ca and market research firm Urbanation, come with a caveat — rents, countrywide, are still more expensive than they were in 2020.
“Even though rents are coming down, they have been so quickly inflated that people are still looking at these prices and saying they’re expensive,” Ladas said, noting asking rents across Canada are 17 per cent higher than they were five years ago, and about five per cent higher than two years ago.
In Toronto, the average studio listing in February cost $1,912 a month. Using national affordability standards, that unit would only be affordable to a person or household earning at least $77,000 per year. For the average two-bedroom listing, at $3,081 a month, a household would need to earn at least $124,000.
The February data shows significant variation between cities and markets, as well as between unit types and sizes. For example, nationally, the listing cost for the smallest and most affordable purpose-built rental housing increased by 1.4 per cent in a year, to $1,590 a month, while one- and two-bedroom purpose-built rentals were listed at lower average price compared to 2024.
Family-sized rental units also came at a higher price, as that piece of the market continues to see high demand and limited supply. Across Canada, the listing price of a three-bedroom purpose-built rental apartment increased 3.8 per cent in a year, to an average asking price of $2,688 per month.
“Studio and three-bedroom apartments have still quite a lot of demand,” Ladas said. For studios, the reason was simple — they were the cheapest to rent and there will always be strong demand for the most affordable units. For three bedrooms, he sees several factors at play. Those larger units can work for renters who need more space for kids or working from home but can’t afford a detached house, he said. Three-bedroom units could also offer space for more roommates to split costs, Ladas explained.
In Toronto, over the last year, two-bedroom apartment listings have seen the most pronounced drop — down seven per cent year-over-year to an average cost of $3,081 per month. This is where Ladas believes prospective tenants might find a good deal today, with more property managers and landlords offering incentives for new leases, such as a free month of rent or free wi-fi.
When Ladas looks at the data, he sees how Toronto’s long-standing affordability woes have bled into surrounding cities. His own home city of Niagara Falls, for example, has seen its average apartment rent leap up 8.2 per cent in the last year, despite the countrywide rent price nosedive. He sees several reasons for that heating market, including better commuter transit options to and from Toronto, and new subdivisions and towers coming to market, appealing to people who find themselves priced out of bigger cities.
Through 2025, Ladas believes rent prices will continue to drop — particularly as more expected developments planned in bygone years hit the market, and the economy remains on shaky ground. He’s careful, though, not to paint too sunny a picture for tenants: “We do know that rents are still expensive.”
