February 2023 Toronto Rent Report

Looking for our full February 2023 Toronto Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.

The Greater Toronto Area’s rent prices have risen substantially this February. This month, the GTA’s monthly average rent price for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit has increased by $69, bringing the region’s rental rates just below what they were back in October 2022. Although Canada’s rising interest rates may come to a halt soon, consistently high demand for rental housing seems to be keeping rent prices high practically across the country.

We’ll soon be releasing our 2023 Canada-wide Report with even more rental data and statistics. For access to this and other updates on the Toronto rental market, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

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 increased by quite a wide margin this February, rising by $69 since January. Following three consecutive month-to-month declines in the region’s average rental rates, the GTA’s average monthly rent price has now rebounded to just barely below what they were in October 2022. Looking at a year-over-year comparison, the average monthly rent for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit in the GTA has increased by $358 since February 2022.

Planning on raising rent this year? Ontario’s Annual allowable rent increase limit for 2023 is 2.5%. Find out when and how you can increase rent and ensure you’re complying with provincial guidelines by reading our updated Guide to Ontario Rent Increases.

Month-to-month rent change

This chart breaks down the percentage change in rent across all GTA cities/municipalities from January to February 2023.

Unfurnished Toronto rent trends

In terms of unfurnished units, there were a few larger changes this month within the GTA’s various municipalities. North York saw the largest increase (+8.14%), while the only month-to-month decrease occurred in Downtown Toronto (-0.53%). In spite of this drop though, Downtown Toronto still had the most expensive one-, two- and three-bedroom unfurnished units on average this February.

Furnished Toronto rent trends

Average rent prices for furnished units in the GTA’s various municipalities also saw comparatively few large month-to-month changes. The most notable increase this month came in Etobicoke (+8.12%), while the most notable decline was seen in Downtown Toronto, where prices fell by -5.45% on average. Despite the decrease, however, Downtown Toronto continued to command the highest average rent for one- and two-bedroom furnished units.

Toronto furnished vs unfurnished averages

On average, furnished rental units remain significantly more expensive than unfurnished units this January. At present, furnished one-bedroom units cost $311 more than unfurnished units as a whole – which is more or less 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 decide to rent their units on a short-term basis. Renters who bring their own furniture can still find significant savings in the GTA.

Rent per square foot

New for 2023, our monthly Rent Reports will look more closely at average rent per square foot in municipalities throughout the Greater Toronto Area. In February, Etobicoke has the most expensive rent per square foot, while Mississauga and Markham are tied for the least expensive costs for space.

Compared to Vancouver, rent per square foot is much higher in the GTA – with Metro Vancouver’s region-wide average of $2.85 per square foot.

Active listing data

New for 2023, we’ll be looking at detailed statistics for currently active listings available on the market to see which property types and number of bedrooms are the most represented. For renters, these numbers show which types of units you’re most likely to encounter in the Greater Toronto Area, while for landlords, you can assess how much competition you’ll face based on the current supply.

Active listings by property type

For February 2023, the most common rental property type by far was apartments, representing a whopping 87.18% of active listings on the market. Partial houses (e.g. basement suites) were the second-most rented unit type this month, at 5.92% of active listings currently available to rent.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

In terms of the number of bedrooms, we saw a more even spread across active listings on the market this month. One-bedroom units were the most common type of listing this month at 39.00%, though two-bedroom units were nearly as popular, representing 38.97% of all active listings on the market.

City breakdown

Brampton is still the cheapest GTA municipality in February 2023, while Downtown Toronto unsurprisingly remains the most expensive.

The average price for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Brampton has risen to $1,670, while in Downtown Toronto, the same type of unit goes for $2,428 – a difference of $758.

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.

• This month, Downtown Toronto had the most expensive average rent prices for all unit types – except for three-bedroom, furnished units, where East York had higher average prices
• For the second straight month, Brampton had the least expensive one- and two-bedroom furnished and unfurnished units
• Average monthly rent prices increased for all unit types in Scarborough and Vaughan-Richmond Hill

Rental averages for other Ontario cities

We’ve explored data from other cities and municipalities in other regions within and surrounding the GTA. For these cities, London is the least expensive city to rent in this January at $1,499 for an unfurnished, one-bedroom unit, while Oakville is the most expensive at $2,279 – though Downtown Toronto still has the region’s highest average rent prices.

For complete data on these cities as well as other municipalities outside of the Greater Toronto Area, download our full report here to view the complete report.

Our complete February 2023 Rent Report has information on even more key areas, broken down into region and unit type for a 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

Make a splash at your next video meeting and rep the latest rental averages and trends with our custom virtual backgrounds — always free to download. 

Were you looking for the full report? Download it for free here.

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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 Vancouver rental market. Discover last month’s Rent Reports below:

January 2023 Metro Vancouver Rent Report
January 2022 Toronto Rent Report
January 2023 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report
January 2023 Montreal Rent Report