How far have Mississauga furnished one-bedroom rents actually fallen?

Furnished one-bedroom asking rents in Mississauga fell 14.40% in a single month, from $1,931 to $1,653, according to liv.rent’s August 2026 Ontario Rent Report. It was the sharpest single move recorded anywhere in the report’s dataset this month. Here is what the data shows, why the furnished segment swings so hard, and what it means whether you’re renting or leasing out an apartment in Mississauga right now.

The one-month swing was steep enough to stand out in a report that tracks 20 Ontario areas. Furnished two-bedroom rents in Mississauga also slipped 4.91% over the same period, while the city’s unfurnished one-bedroom rents actually rose 1.12%, per the same report. That contrast matters: this isn’t a story about Mississauga rents falling across the board. It’s specifically a furnished, one-bedroom story.

Mississauga’s furnished one-bedroom segment recorded the sharpest decline of any tracked area this month, followed by Markham and North York, while furnished one-bedroom rents increased in Ottawa, Scarborough, and Brampton over the same period, according to the report. liv.rent’s Ontario Rent Reports track shifts like this across 20 GTA and Ontario areas every month.

A segment that swings both ways

This isn’t the furnished segment’s first sharp move. Just ten months earlier, in October 2025, Mississauga posted the largest furnished one-bedroom increase anywhere in the GTA that month, up 14.15%, according to liv.rent’s October 2025 Ontario Rent Report. A segment that can climb by roughly 14% in one month and fall by a similar amount ten months later may point to a comparatively small pool of active furnished listings, where a handful of new or withdrawn units can move the average significantly.

How Mississauga fits into the wider GTA picture

Zoom out to unfurnished one-bedroom rents, the more heavily listed category, and the picture is calmer but still soft. The City of Toronto’s unfurnished one-bedroom average was $1,947 in August 2026, down 5.99% year over year from $2,071, and asking rents have sat below the same month a year earlier every month so far in 2026, according to the same report. Among the 20 Ontario areas tracked, Oakville was the most expensive this month for an unfurnished one-bedroom at $2,172, while London was the most affordable at $1,547, a difference of $625. Mississauga also ranked among the most expensive tracked areas on a per square foot basis, alongside Etobicoke and Downtown Toronto, per liv.rent’s data. In other words, a sharp monthly drop in one rent category doesn’t mean Mississauga has become a bargain overall.

Source: liv.rent, August 2026 Ontario Rent Report.

What could be driving the drop in Mississauga furnished one-bedroom rents?

liv.rent’s own data shows the size of the move, but not the full cause. Recent GTA rental softness may help explain some of the broader context. In a CBC report from May 2025, real estate experts pointed to a wave of new purpose-built rental supply, reduced demand from international students following federal study permit limits, and an uncertain job market as factors cooling rents across the region. liv.rent’s own marketing manager, Matisse Yiu, told CBC at the time that the rental market had lost its usual sense of urgency. The same report noted landlords responding with incentives such as a free month of rent. It’s GTA-wide context rather than a Mississauga-specific explanation, but it lines up with a furnished one-bedroom segment where a smaller pool of active listings makes each pricing decision carry more weight in the monthly average.

A policy push for more rental supply

Mississauga has also been trying to attract more purpose-built rental construction. Development charges for new residential units in the city are down 50% across the board, with a full 100% reduction for eligible three-bedroom purpose-built rental units in place since January 2025, and that 100% reduction was extended to one-bedroom-plus-den and two-bedroom rental units as of February 11, 2026, according to the City of Mississauga. Developers must pull a building permit before December 31, 2027 to qualify. There isn’t yet a confirmed count showing how many additional units these incentives have brought to market by August 2026, so it’s a factor worth watching rather than a confirmed cause of this month’s drop.

Landlords competing for a smaller pool of renters

With softer demand and a growing supply pipeline, landlords across the GTA have been competing harder to fill units, including through incentives rather than headline price cuts, per the CBC report above. A furnished unit, which typically commands a premium for the added convenience, is often where that competition shows up first: a landlord filling a vacant, furnished listing can adjust the asking rent to attract a tenant more quickly than a landlord negotiating with a tenant who already lives there.

Does the Ontario rent increase guideline protect tenants in furnished units?

The rent swings described above apply to asking rents on vacant, currently listed units, not to what an existing tenant can be charged at renewal. In Ontario, the annual rent increase guideline for 2026 is 2.1%, down from 2.5% in 2025, according to the Government of Ontario. The guideline applies to most private residential units covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, including rented houses, apartments, basement apartments, and condos, and covers furnished and unfurnished units alike. That means that in most guideline-covered units, a tenant already living in a furnished Mississauga apartment cannot be asked for more than a 2.1% rent increase in 2026 based only on nearby asking rents for newly listed furnished units.

The post-November 15, 2018 exemption

There’s a significant exception. The guideline doesn’t apply to new buildings, additions, and most new basement apartments first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018. Some newer Mississauga condo units may fall on the newer side of that line. For exempt units, landlords can raise rent above the guideline with proper notice. If exemption status is ever disputed, the landlord is generally expected to be able to show the building’s first occupancy or completion date.

What a landlord has to do before raising rent

For units the guideline does cover, a landlord generally can’t raise rent until 12 months have passed since the tenancy began or the last increase, and must give the tenant written notice, on the Landlord and Tenant Board’s official notice of rent increase form, at least 90 days before the increase takes effect. For more on how the process works province-wide, see liv.rent’s guide to Ontario rent increases. This is general information rather than legal advice; tenants and landlords with questions about a specific unit should confirm the details with the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Is this drop an opportunity for renters, or a warning sign?

For renters currently searching in Mississauga, particularly for a furnished unit, the data points to real leverage. In the City of Toronto, the average furnished one-bedroom cost $17 less per month than an unfurnished one in August 2026, a reversal of the usual furnished premium, according to liv.rent’s August 2026 Ontario Rent Report. Renters comparing furnished and unfurnished options in the same building or neighbourhood may find that gap has narrowed or disappeared entirely.

There’s also plenty of supply to compare against. Apartments made up 95.65% of active GTA rental listings in August 2026, and one-bedroom units were the single most common listing type at 49.29% of active inventory, according to the report. That volume gives renters room to shop multiple listings before committing, and gives tenants nearing a lease renewal a realistic set of comparable asking rents to bring into a conversation with their landlord or property manager.

The caution is not to read too much into one month of furnished, one-bedroom data on its own. Mississauga’s unfurnished one-bedroom rents actually rose 1.12% over the same period, and the city remained among the most expensive tracked areas on a per square foot basis. A single-month move this large, in a segment with fewer active listings than the unfurnished market, can also reflect one or two aggressively priced new listings rather than a wholesale shift in what the market will bear. The steadier signal is the direction the City of Toronto has been moving in for most of 2026: rents below the same month a year earlier every month so far, which points to a softer market overall rather than a one-time blip.

What should Mississauga landlords do about it?

For landlords with a furnished unit sitting vacant or coming up for a new tenant, the data is a signal to check current asking rents before relisting rather than defaulting to last year’s price, or even last month’s. liv.rent’s free rent estimate tool calculates a unit’s estimated value based on listing details and current market activity, a faster gut check than manually scrolling comparable listings. Writing a clear, competitive listing matters too; liv.rent’s guide on how to write an attractive rental listing covers what tends to draw applicants fastest in a slower market.

It’s also worth reconsidering whether furnishing a unit still pays for itself in this specific submarket. The City of Toronto’s furnished one-bedroom average has already dipped below the unfurnished average, and furnished one-bedroom rents across the GTA were already averaging $15 less than unfurnished one-bedroom rents back in March 2026, per liv.rent’s March 2026 Ontario Rent Report. If the premium a landlord can charge for furniture and setup no longer covers the added cost and depreciation, listing unfurnished and reaching a broader pool of applicants may be the more competitive choice, at least until furnished demand recovers.

None of this changes the rules for tenants already in place. Existing tenants in units covered by the guideline are still protected by the 2.1% cap for 2026, and landlords must still provide 90 days’ written notice and wait 12 months between increases, regardless of how competitive the asking rent market looks. Landlords of newer, guideline-exempt buildings have more room to price to market, but even there, a unit that sits vacant for an extra month typically costs more than a modest reduction in asking rent would. Mississauga’s development charge incentives, which now eliminate charges entirely for one-bedroom-plus-den, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom purpose-built rental units, are designed to bring more competing supply online over time, one more reason to price a listing to today’s market rather than last year’s.

Will Mississauga furnished one-bedroom rents keep falling through the rest of 2026?

The honest answer is that the data available right now supports caution rather than a firm prediction either way. The City of Toronto’s unfurnished one-bedroom rent has sat below the same month a year earlier in every month of 2026 so far, a streak that hadn’t shown signs of breaking as of August. At the same time, the Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on July 15, 2026, the sixth consecutive hold, with the next scheduled announcement set for September 2, 2026. Stable borrowing costs generally mean landlords aren’t under fresh financing pressure to raise rents quickly, which tends to support continued competition on price rather than a sudden reversal.

There’s also a nuance worth watching. The average asking rent per square foot across the GTA actually rose 3.28% from July to $2.28 in August 2026, even as several headline rent figures fell, with Etobicoke, Downtown Toronto, and Mississauga posting the highest per square foot rates. That combination, a falling average rent alongside a rising rent per square foot, can happen when the mix of available units shifts toward smaller apartments, so it’s worth watching whether Mississauga’s furnished one-bedroom drop reflects genuine softening or a shift in what kind of units are being listed.

Three scenarios seem plausible for the rest of 2026. Furnished rents could keep falling if landlord competition continues and more purpose-built supply reaches the market, encouraged by Mississauga’s development charge incentives. They could level off if the furnished segment’s small listing pool simply returns closer to its previous average, as it did after October 2025’s spike. Or the furnished and unfurnished markets could keep converging, following the pattern already visible in the City of Toronto, until the traditional furnished premium disappears across more of the GTA. Renters and landlords who want to browse furnished rentals on liv.rent can check current listings directly, and checking back with each new monthly Ontario Rent Report is the most reliable way to see which path Mississauga is actually on.

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