October 2022 Toronto Rent Report

As peak renting season comes to a close, rent in the Greater Toronto Area continues its seemingly relentless ascent, climbing by a further $139 this October. Rising interest rates and ongoing competition for rental units seem to be keeping prices high as we head into the fall, with prices also remaining at yearly highs in Metro Vancouver.

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Let’s take a look now at the latest data and see which neighbourhoods are experiencing the biggest changes in furnished and unfurnished rental rates.

Jump to the following Toronto Rent Report sections:

Toronto rent trends

The average rent price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in the Greater Toronto Area has skyrocketed this October, up $139 from September. This is now the seventh consecutive month in which the GTA’s rental averages have increased, with 2022’s only month-to-month decline coming in March. This significant upward shift comes as somewhat of a surprise since the typically busy summer renting season is coming to a close, so we’ll be monitoring trends throughout the rest of the year to see if these high prices continue.

Month-to-month rent change

This chart breaks down the percentage change in rent across all GTA cities/municipalities from September to October 2022.

Unfurnished Toronto rent trends

For unfurnished units, major changes to the GTA’s average rent prices were fairly scant this month, with only minor shifts compared to what we’ve seen recently. Etobicoke (+4.65%) saw the biggest increase, while Vaughan-Richmond Hill (-4.86%) had the biggest declines from month to month. In Downtown Toronto, average rent prices for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit barely budged, moving just +0.08% this October.

Furnished Toronto rent trends

As per usual, furnished units in the Greater Toronto Area saw significantly larger changes this October. In Scarborough, the average price for a furnished, one-bedroom unit fell by -15.59%, marking the only major decline this month. Increases were far more common for furnished units, with the most notable numbers coming from Etobicoke (+13.63%), Vaughan-Richmond Hill (+8.28%), and Downtown Toronto (+13.74%)

Toronto furnished vs unfurnished averages

For October furnished rental units remain significantly more expensive than unfurnished rentals on average. At present, furnished one-bedroom units cost $189 more than unfurnished units, on average – which is more in line with what we’re used to seeing. This means that landlords choosing to rent their units furnished can expect to earn more profits over time, particularly if they choose to rent their unit on a short-term basis. Renters who bring their own furniture can still find significant savings in the GTA.

City breakdown

Brampton is still the cheapest GTA municipality this October, while Downtown Toronto unsurprisingly remains the most expensive.

The average price for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Brampton has dropped to $1,653, while in Downtown, the same type of unit goes for $2,377 – a difference of $724.

Because Ontario’s different communities are so diverse, we’re breaking down the GTA into its different cities and municipalities to see the price difference within listing types: one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units, both unfurnished and furnished.

• Brampton had the least expensive unfurnished units for one-, two-, and three-bedroom units this October.
• Furnished, one-bedroom units in Scarborough were $362 cheaper than unfurnished units.
• Furnished, three-bedroom units in Downtown Toronto topped $5,000 this month, at an average of $5,386.

Rental averages outside of the GTA

We’ve explored data from neighbourhoods, cities, and municipalities outside of the Greater Toronto Region. For these cities, Oshawa was once again the cheapest city to rent in this month at $1,623 for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit, while Burlington was the most expensive at $2,235.

Our complete October 2022 Rent Report has information on even more key areas, broken down into region and unit type for a more complete overview of rental averages in Ontario. To view these and all the other new information we’ve added, be sure to download your copy of the Rent Report below.

Downloadable resources

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Renting in Ontario

For more information on renting in Ontario, refer to these comprehensive resource posts:

• What’s A Standard Rental Application?
• What do you need when applying for a rental?
• What Can A Landlord Ask For On A Rental Application In Ontario?
• How Do I Fill Out A Rental Application?
• Ontario Standard Lease Explained
• Frequently Asked Questions: Everything You Need to Know About Eviction in Ontario

Data collection methodology

Our monthly rent reports use data from our own liv.rent listings, as well as data our team manually collects from other popular listing sites – looking at available basement suites, apartments, condos, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses for each area.

When collecting this data, we do exclude luxury properties listed at over $5,000, as well as rooms for rent and shared accommodation. Investing in manual data collection means that we only consider the current month’s listing, since we can filter out duplicate listings and older ads that haven’t been removed.

Another key difference between our data collection methods and some government agencies like the CMHC is that we only include current asking rent prices. Many official reports will include data for entire buildings in their reports, which tends to skew numbers lower since many units are already occupied, and may be rent-controlled or rented for significantly lower than the current rates.

As we are a Canadian rental platform founded and based in Vancouver, we want to ensure that we’re providing a completely accurate depiction of the rental market in the cities we look at.

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Subscribe to receive these monthly updates on the Toronto rental market. Discover last month’s Rent Reports below:

September 2022 Toronto Rent Report
September 2022 Vancouver Rent Report
September 2022 Montreal Rent Report