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August 2025 Ontario Rent Report

8 min read
Tyler Nyquvest

Tyler Nyquvest

Creative Content Writer at liv.rent

Published on August 08, 2025

At a glance

  • Furnished rentals lose their edge across the GTA
    • In most GTA neighbourhoods, renting furnished no longer commands a premium. Only Downtown Toronto, Burlington, Oakville, and Markham still see furnished 1-bedrooms priced higher than unfurnished. Brampton shows the steepest reversal, with furnished units renting for $547/month less than unfurnished.
  • Downtown Toronto leads GTA rent declines
    • Most GTA neighbourhoods saw year-over-year rent drops for 1-bedroom unfurnished units in August 2025, with Downtown Toronto posting the steepest decline at -11.8%. Brampton was the only market to buck the trend, recording a 9.1% increase.
  • Rents also cooling outside the GTA
    • Outside the GTA, Hamilton recorded the steepest year-over-year drop in August 2025, with 1-bedroom unfurnished rents falling -10.7% from $1,902 to $1,699. Kitchener followed with a -6.0% decline over the same period.

Download The Latest Toronto Rent Report

For the complete Toronto rent report, download here.

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.



As of August 2025, the City of Toronto’s average monthly rent price for an unfurnished one-bedroom saw a YoY drop of $149 to a new monthly average of $2,071 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 increased by $23 this August to $2,071. The average rent for a furnished one-bedroom decreased by $15 since last month, bringing the rate to $1,991.

Planning on raising rent this year? Ontario’s Annual allowable rent increase limit for 2025/2026 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.


Is your rental priced competitively?

Find out with a free rent estimate. Our team of rental experts will calculate your unit’s true value based on your listing details & current market trends.


liv.rent’s 2025 Canada Rental Market Trend Report is now live! Explore the latest rental trends across Canada, uncover key factors driving price changes, and gain exclusive insights into how landlords and renters perceive the market nationwide. Download your copy here.




Month-to-month rent change

This chart breaks down the percentage change in rent prices across all GTA cities/municipalities between May and August 2025.


Unfurnished Toronto rent trends

Rates for unfurnished one-bedroom units in the GTA varied this month. Vaughan-Richmond Hill saw the largest decrease at (-4.15%), while Mississauga saw the largest increase at (+1.19%).


Furnished Toronto rent trends

This month, average rates for furnished one-bedroom units in the GTA saw some notable changes. North York saw the largest increase (+8.00%), while Markham saw the largest decrease (-4.96%).


Toronto furnished vs unfurnished averages

This August, prices for unfurnished one-bedroom units saw a (+1.12%) increase to $2,071/month while furnished units saw a (-0.78%) decrease to $1,991/month. The average one-bedroom unfurnished unit rents for $80 more than a one-bedroom furnished unit. This means that at present, landlords won’t see profits renting out their units furnished, although they may still be able to capitalize on the demand for short-term rentals.


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 August, Etobicoke and North York ($3.07/sq. ft.) tied for the highest rent per square foot, followed by Downtown ($3.04/sq. ft.) and Markham ($2.91/sq. ft.). At the other end of the spectrum, Scarborough has the lowest rent per square foot ($1.42/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 August 2025, the most common rental property type in the Greater Toronto Area was apartments, representing the majority of all listings in the GTA at 97.05%. Townhouses were the second most common unit type this month, representing 1.54% of active listings, followed by houses at just 0.77%.


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 August. One-bedroom units were the most common type of listing in the GTA this month at 45.93%, while two-bedroom units represented 40.45% of the region’s active listings. Three-bedroom units made up the remaining 13.62%.

Looking for our full July 2025 Toronto Rent Report? Download your copy here to get all the latest insights, including a detailed breakdown by neighbourhood.

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City breakdown

This August, 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 Oshawa currently stands at $1,755, while in Markham the same type of unit rents for an average of $2,262 – a difference of $507 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 unfurnished units, both unfurnished and furnished.

  • Prices decreased across all types of furnished and unfurnished units in Downtown Toronto
  • On the other hand, prices increased across all types of furnished and unfurnished units in North York except three-bedroom furnished units.
  • The average price for two-bedroom unfurnished units decreased across all municipalities except North York.

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 August for one-bedroom unfurnished units at $1,631. Markham is the most expensive for one-bedroom unfurnished units at $2,262.

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.


Is your rental priced competitively?

Find out with a free rent estimate. Our team of rental experts will calculate your unit’s true value based on your listing details & current market trends.



Most expensive cities in Canada

This August, four 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, and Richmond. The only Ontario location on the list was Markham as the fifth most expensive city in Canada.

Downloadable resources

Our complete August 2025 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.

Download The Latest Toronto Rent Report

For the complete Toronto rent report, download here.


Renting in Ontario

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


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:

May 2025 Metro Vancouver Rent Report
May 2025 Toronto Rent Report
May 2025 Calgary & Edmonton Rent Report
May 2025 Montreal Rent Report

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