If you've been thinking about moving out of your parent's basement, or perhaps you're in the mood for a change of scenery, now might be the perfect time to start renting an apartment in Toronto as monthly averages continue to decline, according to a new national rent report.
On Monday, PadMapper released its May rent report, which revealed rent in just five Canadian cities were on an upward trajectory last month, while 11 declined, and eight remained flat.
In May, Canadians continued to feel the effects of the COVID pandemic, with many renters nationwide experiencing financial setbacks. In turn, rents throughout the country have been faced with downward pressure post-COVID and this will only continue in the coming months.
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Once again, Canada's largest cities were the most expensive cities to rent a one-bedroom in the country, with Toronto securing the top spot ($2,180) followed by Vancouver ($2,100).
However, despite being the most expensive city for rent, for the second month in a row, Toronto rents were down on all fronts. In May, the median one-bedroom rent in Toronto dropped 0.9% to $2,180, while two-bedrooms dropped 1.1% to $2,800.
Vancouver also saw rent for both on and two-bedrooms drop 5% and 6.3%, respectively, which are the largest year-over-year declines for this city ever reported since PadMapper started tracking Canadian rent prices in 2016.
Similar trends can be observed across Canada, with 80% of the 24 Canadian cities tracked by PadMapper seeing either flat or declining monthly rent prices in May.
PadMapper May rent report
PadMapper analyst Crystal Chen pointed out to Toronto Storeys that an interesting trend she's noticed is that the pandemic has started to shift the demand for apartments away from the most expensive cities.
Chen explained that usually the demand for apartments starts to pick up in the more expensive cities as summer begins, but now the opposite is happening.
"As more and more companies move into remote work, many renters don’t want to pay the big city price tag when they are unable to use the amenities and are looking for more affordable and spacious options outside of the larger, metropolitan cities," said Chen.
For example, those who don't want the expensive rent of Toronto could look in neighbouring Hamilton or Oshawa, where one-bedroom rents are now $1,350 and $1,380, respectively.
PadMapper May rent report
