Ontario rent prices keep on crashing and here's where they are cheapest

Though Ontario rent prices vary greatly based on where in the province you're looking, if you've been thinking of moving toward or within Toronto, now is an opportune time to get a (relative) bargain on a place.

Though the GTA is perennially one of the most expensive places in North America to live, tenants have gotten a bit of a break in recent months due to the softening of the local real estate market that's got investors, sellers, landlords and realtors growing increasingly distressed, if not completely running for the hills.

The average monthly rate for an apartment in downtown T.O. — as well as in North York, Etobicoke, Mississauga, East York, and other parts of the area — plummeted again in April, as Ontario as a whole saw the largest annual decrease in rent bills of any province.

Rent prices in and around Toronto plummet for yet another monthhttps://t.co/hkpFxzmlWg

— blogTO (@blogTO) April 25, 2025

Rentals.ca and Urbanation, which crunch the numbers each month based on the listings available on their sites, now put Toronto's average rent at $2,618 overall (down 5.1 per cent from April 2024), with both one-bedroom and two-bedroom units seeing some decent price declines (of -5.8 per cent year-over-year, to $2,317, and -9.3 per cent year-over-year, to $2,926, respectively).

Rents in surrounding pockets dropped by as much as 12.8 per cent from the same time a year ago (one-bedroom units in East York), most notably in Brampton (-9.8 per cent y/o/y for the typical one-bedroom), Welland (-8.7 per cent y/o/y for a one-bedroom), Peterborough (-8.4 per cent y/o/y for a one-bedroom), Kingston (-8.2 per cent y/o/y for a two-bedroom) and Cambridge (-7.3 per cent y/o/y for a two-bedroom).

Additionally, price reductions both year-over-year and month-over-month for units of both sizes were seen in Guelph, Waterloo, London, North York and Mississauga

The 15 most expensive rental markets in Canada and how the prices of one- and two-bedroom units has changed monthly and yearly, per Rentals.ca and Urbanation's latest national report.

Welland, St. Catharines, Peterborough, Windsor and London (in that order) have the lowest rental rates in the province, at current, with one-bedroom prices ranging from $1,528 to $1,751, on average, and two-bedrooms coming in at $1,833 to $2,155 per month.

Meanwhile, there were some cities and towns where rents actually went up due to demand: St. Catharines (only two-bedroom units and only slightly), Niagara Falls (one- and two-bedrooms by 13.6 per cent and 5.6 per cent annually, though prices for both were down month-over-month), Barrie, Oakville and Ajax.

The biggest jumps in average price were in Greater Sudbury, where a one-bedroom is now 14.8 per cent more than it was at this time last year (and 7 per cent more than even the month prior, and two-bedrooms are 11 per cent more expensive than last April (and 3.5 per cent pricier than the month earlier).

How the average price to rent an apartment of any kind in Canada has fluctuated over the years. From Rentals.ca and Urbanation's latest national report.

While the cost of a place has risen quite a lot across Canada since the pandemic-era lows of 2021, they are also dipping below 2024 rates — so much so that nearly half of Canadian landlords are now losing money, unable to cover their mortgage and other costs given the rent they're bringing in.