February 2026 Ontario Rent Report

At a glance

• Ontario One-Bedroom Rents Rise Month-over-Month
  • One-bedroom unfurnished rents increased by 1.99% month-over-month in February 2026. The biggest increases were in Etobicoke (+3.8%), Markham (+3.7%), North York (+3.6%), and Vaughan/Richmond Hill (+3.1%). Scarborough remained essentially flat (-0.1%), while Downtown Toronto saw a slight increase of +0.2%.
    
• Toronto One-Bedroom Rentals: Unfurnished Stable, Furnished Down in February 2026
  • Month-over-month, one-bedroom unfurnished rents were stable (-0.08%), while furnished units saw a sharper decline (-2.96%). Markham remains the most expensive for unfurnished units at $2,175/month (+$77), while Oshawa is the most affordable at $1,698/month (+$38).
    
• Markham Overtakes Oakville in February as the Most Expensive One-Bedroom Market
  • Markham moved up from #3 to #1 this month, becoming the most expensive one-bedroom market. Oakville remains strong at #2, despite a slight easing. Burlington slipped from #2 to #3, and Downtown Toronto dropped from #4 to #5. Etobicoke entered the top five rankings this month.
    

We’re expanding the scope of our rent report! Starting this month, our Toronto Rent Report is now the Ontario Rent Report. We’ve begun adding more cities—beginning with Ottawa.

On December 10th 2025, the Bank of Canada announced that the interest rate would stay at 2.25%, closing out last year on a low trend. Experts predict the rate to hover around the same amount for 2026.

As of February 2026, the City of Toronto’s average monthly rent price for an unfurnished one-bedroom saw a YoY drop of $165 to a new monthly average of $1,991/month this month. 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.

Ontario rent trends

Compared to last month, the average rent price for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Toronto decreased by $2 this February to $1,991/month. The average rent for a furnished one-bedroom decreased by $61 since last month, bringing the rate to $1,993/month.

Planning on raising rent this year? Ontario’s Annual allowable rent increase limit for 2026 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.

liv.rent’s 2026 Canada Rental Market Trends Report is launching soon, highlighting the key shifts shaping rental markets nationwide.

Month-to-month rent change

This chart breaks down the percentage change in rent prices across all GTA cities/municipalities between January and February 2026.

Unfurnished Toronto rent trends

Rates for unfurnished one-bedroom units in the GTA varied this month. Etobicoke (3.80%), Markham (3.67%), and North York (3.62%) increased, while no significant decreases were recorded.

Furnished Toronto rent trends

This month, average rates for furnished one-bedroom units in the GTA saw some notable changes. Vaughan-Richmond Hill (-4.20%), Markham (-2.84%) and North York (-2.81%) saw notable decreases, while Etobicoke (3.89%) and Brampton (3.41%) saw the largest increases.

Toronto furnished vs unfurnished averages

This February, prices for unfurnished one-bedroom units saw a decrease (-0.08%) to $1,991/month while furnished units decreased (-2.96%) to $1,993/month. The average furnished one-bedroom unit rents for just $2 more than a one-bedroom unfurnished unit.

Rent per square foot

Our monthly Rent Reports also look more closely at the average rent per square foot in cities throughout the Greater Toronto Area. This February, Downtown ($3.96/sq. ft.) had the highest rent per square foot, followed by Scarborough ($3.48/sq. ft.). At the other end of the spectrum, Brampton has the lowest rent per square foot ($1.47/sq. ft.).

Active listing data

We’ll also look at detailed statistics for currently active listings available 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

As of February 2026, the most common rental property type was apartments, representing the majority of all listings in the GTA at 89.61%. Partial houses were the second most common unit type this month, representing 5.53% of active listings, followed by houses at 3.15% and townhouses at 1.72%.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

In terms of the number of bedrooms, we saw a varied spread across active listings on the market this February. One-bedroom units were the most common type of listing in the GTA this month at 44.71%, while two-bedroom units represented 40.38% of the region’s active listings. Three-bedroom units made up the remaining 14.90%.

Looking for our full February 2026 Toronto Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.

City breakdown

This February, Oshawa is the cheapest municipality to rent in out of the areas we look at for our Rent Reports, while Markham is the region’s most expensive place to rent this month.

The average rent price for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Markham currently stands at $2,175/month, while in Oshawa the same type of unit rents for an average of $1,660/month – a difference of $515 between the two.

With Ontario’s different communities being 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.

• All prices for unfurnished one-bedrooms increased except in Scarborough.
• All furnished two-bedroom units decreased except for Mississauga, Ottawa, and Vaughan-Richmond Hill.
• All unfurnished two-bedroom units decreased in rental price across neighbourhoods except for Etobicoke, Brampton, and Markham.

Rental averages for other Ontario cities

We’ve also looked at data from cities and municipalities in other regions within and surrounding the GTA. Looking at these additional cities, London is the least expensive to rent in February for one-bedroom unfurnished units at $1,555/month. Markham is the most expensive for unfurnished one-bedroom units at $2,175/month.

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.

Most expensive cities in Canada

This February, three of the country’s most expensive cities are located in Metro Vancouver. West Vancouver is the most expensive city in the country to rent in, followed by North Vancouver, Vancouver. Markham and Burlington rounded out the list.

Downloadable resources

Our complete February 2026 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.

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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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