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 and.
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, 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.
Neil Sharma is the Editor-In-Chief of Canadian Real Estate Wealth and Real Estate Professional. As a journalist, he has covered Canada’s housing market for the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, National Post, and other publications, specializing in everything from market trends to mortgage and investment advice. He can be reached at neil@crewmedia.ca.
