It now costs nearly $600 more to rent an apartment in Toronto than it did a year ago
Renting a place to call home in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is not a cheap prospect, and it’s getting more and more expensive to live in the most populated urban area in the country.
The Bullpen Research & Consulting and Toronto Rentals Toronto GTA Rent Report for August highlights an alarming increase in rental prices in the region, with the monthly cost of renting a unit in the 416 and 905 handsets increasing by 21% over the previous year.
Average rent prices soared to $2,528 across the region in August from $2,098 a year earlier.
That’s a whopping $430 year-over-year increase for renters.
And it’s much worse for those residing in Toronto proper, where the average monthly apartment rent rose 30.7% in the third quarter of 2022, from a low of $1,938 in the first quarter of 2021 to current $2,533.
That’s a difference of nearly $600 per month.
And it’s even worse for renters in Toronto looking to rent a condo, where average monthly costs soared to $2,963 in August, marking a 43% jump from the pandemic low of under 2,100. $ in early 2021.
August’s average rent was 9.1% higher than the high pre-pandemic average of $2,715 seen in August 2019.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t bargains to be found, like in the O’Connor-Parkview neighborhood, where it costs an average of $1,000 less per month to rent than in the downtown area. Bay Street corridor.
Driven in part by inflation and the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hike, average rental prices in the area are now more than 28% higher than lows recorded during the darkest days of the pandemic.
Experts suggest that further interest rate hikes — which the Bank of Canada has not ruled out — could “continue to rise [demand] in the rental market“, while the tight supply combined with strong demand could “cause rents to reach new heights in the coming months”.
“From May to August, the Greater Toronto Area rental market saw four significant monthly rent increases as tenant demand soared due to changes in interest rates, a price correction resale homes and the typical seasonal rise in the fall,” said Ben Myers, President. of Bullpen Research & Consulting.
