Toronto asking rents have hit a 40-month low following 21 months of annual declines — the lowest they’ve been since the summer of 2022.
The average monthly asking rent for a unit in Canada’s largest city fell 3.5 per cent in October from a year ago to $2,551, according to the latest National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation.
While Toronto still remains one of the most expensive places in the country, behind North Vancouver, Vancouver and Oakville, asking rents dropped at a higher rate than the nationwide average, which fell 2.2 per cent to $2,105.
Year over year, two-bedroom apartments in Toronto fell more than seven per cent to $2,890, the biggest drop among Canada’s largest cities for any unit type.
One-bedroom rents dipped 5.7 per cent to $2,210 and three-bedroom units fell 4.6 per cent to $3,492.
“The number for two-bedroom units is in line with some of the other major cities like Calgary and Vancouver,” says Giacomo Ladas, a spokesperson for Rentals.ca.
Ladas says that demand for two bedrooms increased during the pandemic when more people were working from home and needed office space. Now that demand has cooled and supply has increased, rents for vacant units are coming down for most types — a trend Ladas predicts will continue into 2026.
“The federal government stepped in and removed HST for developers who wanted to build purpose-built rental,” says Ladas, adding that condos that aren’t selling are now being rented. “When there’s more supply, property managers have to bring down price in order to compete.”
As prices continue to fall, Ladas says the “renter’s market” in which Torontonians find themselves is expected to continue through the winter months when less people tend to move.
“If there’s an opportunity to negotiate, it would be now,” says Ladas of more property managers offering incentives to new renters. “You can expect to see one, sometimes two months free rent, some are offering free utilities, some are offering free internet.”
One of the only renting situations in Toronto that saw a slight increase was for shared accommodations, up 1.4 per cent from last year to $1,213 a month, while the Ontario average dipped 6.7 per cent to $1,009 a month since October of last year.
“In a dense city like Toronto, shared accommodations never really see that much variation,” says Ladas about the consistently high demand for a less expensive option like renting a room in a home.
Asking rents declined across Toronto’s boroughs, with East York showing one of the most dramatic annual changes in the country with a 13.5 per cent dip.
Average asking rents in Ontario are down 2.2 per cent to $2,299, year over year, seeing price drops in studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms, while three-bedroom rents rose about one per cent.
The province continues to be one of the most expensive in the country, second behind B.C., as Ontario cities comprise 12 of the top 20 spots on the report’s list of average asking rents across Canada. Oakville, Toronto, North York, Etobicoke, Mississauga, and Kingston all cracked the top 10.
Even as more workplaces enforce return-to-office orders, potentially causing higher demand for units closer to work in Ontario’s urban centres, Ladas doesn’t see a trend forming, yet.
“I think people right now are just prioritizing affordability much more than accessibility,” he says. “If they have to take another half-hour, two-hour commute, they’ll do it to save rent.”
