Toronto supplanted as Canada’s most expensive 1-bedroom rental city

Renting a one-bedroom apartment in North York nets landlords $25 more a month than in Toronto, making it Canada’s most expensive city for that type of rental, according to a new report from Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting.

According to their National Rent Report, that’s a far cry from October 2019, when Toronto rents for one-bedroom units commanded at least $200 more than in North York.

“North York has the most expensive one-bedroom units at $1,953 per month, topping both Toronto and Vancouver, as a number of new purpose-built apartments are starting pre-leasing programs, pulling the average up,” read the report. “Toronto rents have continued to nosedive, with one-bedroom units down 17% in October 2020 compared to a year earlier and two-bedroom units down 14% annually.”

It should be noted that one-bedroom apartments in North York averaged $1,971 in October 2019, meaning that rents have since dropped by 1% year-over-year. However, a one-bedroom Toronto rental, which averaged $2,327 last year, decreased to $1,931 last month.

“Comparing North York and Toronto [in October 2019 and October 2020] is difficult because the make-up of listings has shifted dramatically,” continued the report. “Both areas have seen declines in listings for the more expensive single-family product, but North York has seen a decline in condo listings year-over-year, while listings for condo apartments on Rentals.ca in Toronto have increased by 45% annually.”

According to Sunny Sharma, broker and co-owner of Leading Edge VIP Realty, North York simply has fewer one-bedroom units available than Toronto does.

“The amount of units delivered in Toronto far exceed those in the Bayview and Sheppard areas in North York, not only from a unit count base but because of height restrictions too, which reduces how many units there are,” he said.

“Sheppard has a subway line that was extended to Don Mills, which drove up rental prices. There’s been a lot of gentrification between Bayview and Yonge because of the subway line.”

Renting a two-bedroom unit in Toronto in October 2020 was still more expensive than renting it in North York, averaging $2,538 in the former and $2,474 in the latter.

Canada’s most expensive two-bedroom average rental is in Vancouver, where it declined by 6% year-over-year to $2,793 last month from $2,985.

Following four sideways months, the average rent for all property types in Canada increased in October, largely because new purpose-built rental apartments are pre-leasing and there’s been an increase in listings for both new and expensive condo rentals.