Toronto’s summer of cheap rent won’t last long
The market decline appears to have bottomed out
The city’s rental scene appears to finally be stabilizing, according to new data from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. The report shows that Toronto’s average asking rent grew 1.2 per cent in June, to $2,537—the third monthly increase in a row. This signals a break from the real estate market’s 29-month “prolonged run of annual declines.”
But the stabilization isn’t playing out evenly. Three-bedroom units were the only residence type to see annual rent growth, while rent for both one- and two-bedroom rents fell. The biggest divide is between purpose-built rentals and condos: asking rent for the latter was down three per cent in 2026, compared with a 6.8 per cent drop for condos over the same period. It’s no surprise: the condo sector is still grappling with high vacancy as investor-owned units sit empty.
Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand says that the rental market has begun “to bottom out” from its correction cycle—but there may also be some seasonality at play. Rental demand tends to balloon in the summer and through September as post-secondary students return to the city.
Meanwhile, North York was one of the most expensive rental markets in the country last month, with the average rent increasing by 3.6 per cent from the month before—and by almost six per cent from the same time last year—to $2,563. Vancouver and North Vancouver were the only Canadian markets where average rents were steeper.
Zakiya Kassam is a writer and fact checker whose work has appeared in Post City Magazines, This Magazine and Now Toronto. She was previously the associate editor at Storeys.
