Average Toronto rent prices just skyrocketed by a shocking amount

Toronto's rent prices continued their meteoric ascent in April, and it will now cost you a shocking average of $2,822 to rent a home in Canada's economic heart.

According to the latest National Rent Report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation, the Toronto area's average rental prices increased by an alarming 41 per cent in April compared with the pandemic low recorded two years earlier.

It will now cost you $2,526 to lease a one-bedroom unit or $3,290 to rent a two-bedroom unit in the Greater Toronto Area.

When measured year-over-year, the average Toronto-area one-bedroom will cost a renter 20.5 per cent more than in April 2022, while a two-bedroom unit now leases for 18 per cent more than it did just one year earlier.

With these figures, it shouldn't come as much of a shock to learn Toronto once again registered second on the list of 35 Canadian cities for rent prices, trailing just Vancouver in average one- and two-bedroom rental costs.

However, some areas of Toronto outpaced rent growth in even Vancouver, with GTA markets Scarborough, Brampton, and Markham all witnessing 30 per cent year-over-year price growth. Scarborough rents increased by 31.9 percent, Brampton by 31.2 per cent and Markham by 30.3 per cent all just in the last year.

It's part of a nationwide surge in average monthly rents that saw the cost of rental units surge 20 per cent across Canada in April to just over $2,000 since that pandemic low in 2021.

Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, says that areas with the highest levels of immigration are currently seeing the strongest price growth, and stresses the pressure felt by tenants who rented when prices were low in 2021.

"Tenants that signed leases during the pandemic may be facing rent increases of 20 per cent or more if they decide to move, causing reduced turnover that is exacerbating the low supply situation," said Hildebrand.