August 2026 Ontario rent report

The average asking rent for an unfurnished one-bedroom in the City of Toronto was $1,947 in August, down slightly from July and $124 below where it was a year ago.

At a glance

• City of Toronto rents are down nearly 6% from a year ago
  • The average asking rent for an unfurnished one-bedroom in the City of Toronto was $1,947 this August, down 5.99% from $2,071 in August 2025. Rents have sat below the same month a year earlier every month so far in 2026.
• Mississauga’s furnished rents pulled back sharply
  • Mississauga posted the sharpest single move in the dataset this month, with furnished one-bedroom rents falling 14.40% from $1,931 to $1,653. Furnished two-bedroom rents in Mississauga also decreased 4.91%, even as the city’s unfurnished one-bedroom rents rose 1.12%.
• Furnished one-bedrooms are now cheaper than unfurnished ones in Toronto
  • The average furnished one-bedroom in the City of Toronto, at $1,930, cost less than the average unfurnished one-bedroom, at $1,947, this month, a reversal of the usual furnished premium. Furnished one-bedroom rents rose 0.65% from July, while unfurnished one-bedroom rents fell 0.68% over the same period.

Download liv.rent’s 2026 Canada rental market trends report for in-depth insights and forecasts on average rent prices, regional market comparisons, key economic drivers, and emerging AI trends shaping Canada’s rental landscape.

As of July 15, 2026, the Bank of Canada held its policy interest rate at 2.25%, the sixth consecutive hold. The next scheduled announcement is September 2, 2026.

Let’s look now at the current rental costs and overarching trends in Toronto for August 2026.

Ontario rent trends

Planning on raising rent this year? Ontario’s annual rent increase guideline for 2026 is capped at 2.1%. Find out when and how to increase rent, and how to comply with provincial rules, by reading our updated guide to Ontario rent increases.

Viewed across the year so far, the City of Toronto’s unfurnished one-bedroom asking rent has held in a narrow band while remaining well below the same months in 2025. The gap against last year has stayed wide through the spring and summer.

Month-to-month rent change

To better understand how rent prices have shifted across selected Ontario areas, here are the most significant month-over-month movements for furnished and unfurnished one-bedroom units.

Unfurnished Toronto rent trends

For unfurnished one-bedroom units, Markham, Ottawa, and Brampton recorded the strongest increases, while North York, Downtown Toronto, and Scarborough posted the most notable decreases.

Furnished Toronto rent trends

Furnished one-bedroom rents increased most in Ottawa, Scarborough, and Brampton, while Mississauga recorded the sharpest decline, followed by Markham and North York.

Toronto furnished vs. unfurnished averages

Average prices for furnished and unfurnished one-bedroom units in the City of Toronto moved in opposite directions this month. Furnished one-bedrooms rose 0.65% to $1,930 per month, while unfurnished units decreased 0.68% to $1,947. A furnished one-bedroom now rents for $17 less per month than an unfurnished one on average, a reversal from the usual furnished premium.

Rent per square foot

Where is the most affordable place to rent among the selected Ontario areas based on the space you get? As of August 2026, the average asking rent per square foot rose 3.28% from July to $2.28. The least expensive areas for square footage are Brampton, Vaughan-Richmond Hill, and Markham. The most expensive are Etobicoke, Downtown Toronto, and Mississauga.

Active listing data

We also examine detailed statistics for currently active listings on the market to see which property types and bedroom counts are most represented. For renters, these numbers show the types of units you are most likely to encounter across the GTA. For landlords, they indicate how much competition you face based on current supply.

Active listings by property type

As of August 2026, apartments were the most common rental property type on the market at 95.65% of active listings. Partial houses were the second most represented unit type this month at 1.92%, followed by houses at 1.31% and townhouses at 1.12%.

Active listings by number of bedrooms

Looking at bedroom counts, one-bedroom units were the most common listing this month at 49.29%, with two-bedroom units close behind at 42.21%. Three-bedroom units made up the remaining 8.50%.

City breakdown

Rental averages vary widely across Ontario, so we compare one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom rates for furnished and unfurnished units across 20 tracked areas. Among the 20 Ontario areas we track, Oakville is the most expensive this month, with an unfurnished one-bedroom asking $2,172 per month, while London is the most affordable at $1,547 per month, a difference of $625.

Let’s take a closer look at how rents shifted this month by listing type across the GTA:

• Unfurnished one-bedroom rents were mixed across GTA areas this month. Downtown Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Oshawa, Milton, and Burlington declined, while the other tracked GTA areas increased.
• Furnished one-bedroom rents were mixed across GTA areas. York, East York, Scarborough, Oshawa, Brampton, Milton, Burlington, and Oakville increased, while six other tracked areas declined.
• Vaughan-Richmond Hill and East York were the only tracked GTA areas where every unfurnished unit type with available data increased this month.

Rental averages for other Ontario cities

Across other Ontario areas outside the City of Toronto, rents were mixed this month. London continues to offer the most affordable unfurnished one-bedroom average in our dataset at $1,547, while Burlington and Oakville remain among the priciest municipalities we track outside the downtown core, at $2,117 and $2,172 respectively. Kitchener held closer to the middle of the pack at $1,635, and Ottawa’s unfurnished one-bedroom average was $1,849 this month. For the full municipality-by-municipality breakdown, download our full report here.

Most expensive cities in Canada

This August, four of the country’s five most expensive cities are in Metro Vancouver, with our own Burlington the only non-B.C. city to make the list. West Vancouver claims the top spot as the most expensive city in Canada to rent in, followed by North Vancouver and Vancouver, with Burlington and Burnaby rounding out the top five.

Downloadable resources

Renting in Ontario

These comprehensive guides cover renting in Ontario and using liv.rent to streamline your rental process.

• 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: 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, covering available basement suites, apartments, condos, townhouses, semi-detached houses, and single-detached houses for each area.

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

Another key difference between our data collection methods and those of agencies such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is that we include only current asking rent prices. Many official reports include data for entire buildings, which tends to skew numbers lower since many units are already occupied and may be rent-controlled or rented well below current rates.

As a Canadian rental platform founded and based in Vancouver, we want to provide a completely accurate depiction of the rental market in the cities we cover.

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Subscribe to receive monthly updates on Canada’s major rental markets. Discover last month’s rent reports below:

Vancouver rent report
Ontario rent report
Montreal rent report
Calgary and Edmonton rent report