Thanks to a number of compounding factors, rents in the GTA are continuing to be pushed upwards.
This is according to a new Toronto GTA Rent Report by Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting, which showed that rents for all property types in the GTA have increased 21% since this time last year. In August 2021, the regional average was $2,098. Last month, that same figure climbed to $2,528.
August’s rent was also up on a monthly basis, rising 2.7% since July. This is now a trend; rental rates in the GTA have risen by 2% or more for the past four consecutive months, following a rise of 5.7% in May, which was a multi-year high.
Rental rates as we’re seeing them today have now risen 28.2% past the COVID lows of early 2021, and this upward trajectory can be largely chalked up to the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hikes, “which has made owning a home more expensive and resulted in a swift decline in prices in the resale market,” reads the report.
The report goes on to say that, with future rent hikes most likely looming, rental demand isn’t expected to relent any time soon.
“From May to August, the Greater Toronto Area rental market has experienced four significant monthly rent increases, as tenant demand has skyrocketed due to interest rate changes, a resale house price correction, and the typical seasonal fall uptick,” says Ben Myers, President of Bullpen Research & Consulting. “Pageviews per listing on TorontoRentals.com hit a multi-year high in August, rising 106% annually and 166% from the pandemic-impacted August 2020. Prospective tenants are seeing limited vacancies due to an extreme imbalance between supply and demand, with year-to-date new housing completions down 22 per cent annually in the metro area per CMHC.”
In central Toronto, the average monthly rent climbed 30.7% between Q3 2022 and Q1 2021, reaching $2,533. On a quarterly basis, the Q3 figure has increased 13.8%.
The average rent also increased by 10.1% in North York, 9.4% in Scarborough, 5.7% in Etobicoke, and 5.1% in Mississauga between the second and third quarters of this year.
Rentals.ca
Condominium apartments in Toronto saw an increase to $2,963 in August, marking a 43% increase from a COVID-related low point of $2,100 in early 2021. August’s average was also 9.1% higher than the pre-pandemic high of $2,715 in August 2019.
Meanwhile, the average rent for a condo in Scarborough reached $2,494 in August, up 20% from August 2019, while Mississauga’s rose to $2,767 (up 13%), and Etobicoke’s rose to $2,723 (up 9.7%).
Additionally, certain neighbourhoods in the GTA saw more rent growth than others.
Yonge-St.Clair, Casa Loma, Bay Street Corridor, and Little Portugal had some of the highest rents, although this differed by unit type. The area with the highest average across all property types was the Bay Street Corridor, at $2,779.
Conversely, Kensington-Chinatown and O’Connor-Parkview had the most reasonable rents in the GTA. In particular, rental rates in O’Connor-Parkview were about $1,000 less per month compared to the Bay Street Corridor.
