The average cost of rent by neighbourhood in Toronto

Jul 28 2020, 2:44 pm

Toronto is well established as a costly city to live, but a new report has broken down exactly what it costs to live in the region’s neighbourhoods.

In its Toronto GTA July Rent Report 2020, Torontorental.com breaks down how each neighbourhood is fairing during the year, one that has seen the average cost of renting in the city decline for seven straight months.

According to the report, monthly rent in the GTA reached to $2,129 in June. This accounts for rent dropping an average of 1.7% monthly and 7.3% annually.

Breaking Toronto into 10 neighbourhoods, the report found that, on average, almost all regions in the city saw a decline in the cost of rent during the second quarter of 2020, versus the same time last year.

North St. James Town was the only part not to see a drop, as prices went up by 10% compared to 2019.

In The Annex, rentals were $2,559 this year, compared to $2,857 during the same period in 2019, a 10% decline, while the Bay Street Corridor ($2,448) saw the same.

As for the Waterfront Communities-The Island, they saw a 10% drop to $2,427. While Niagara ($2,302), Church-Yonge corridor ($2,296), Mount Pleasant West ($2,144) all dropped by 8%.

Moss Park managed to see the largest change, going down 14% to $2,098 a month, followed by South Parkdale ($1,974) at 12%, and Little Portugal ($2,218) down 11%.

Overall, all regions of the GTA except one would also see an average decline in the cost of rent.

Toronto, the most expensive by average faired well dropping by 8% compared by month to last year. There was also a month to month shift as the city averaged $2,380 by the end of May and $2,314 by the end of June.

Torontorentals.com

Rental costs at all types of units in Vaughan dropped by 1% when compared to June 2019, at $2,306. This is, however, an over $100 increase over the average cost of renting in May 2020.

Things didn’t look too bad in Toronto’s western neighbourhoods, as Etobicoke dropped 4% to $2,272, while moving further out, Brampton saw a 1% decrease to $2,116, and Mississauga dropped 10% — one of the steepest declines in the GTA — to $2,093.

York and North York would also chart larger declines in rental prices as they dropped 8% to $2,153 and 11% to $2,093 respectively compared to June 2019.

Markham also charted high, tying North York for the biggest month-over-month change, with an 11% decline, bringing Markham’s average rent to $$2,071.

East York saw a 4% drop to an average of $2,008, while Scarborough, the only GTA neighbourhood to see an average increase, went up 1% to $2,000.

Despite the move down across the region, things aren’t fully swinging in favour of Toronto’s renters just yet, as an average decrease doesn’t translate to lower rental prices across the board.

“The rental market in the GTA continues to soften, but the average rent for rental apartments increased month over month,” said Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting, in the release.

The same report found that rental apartment lease rates grew month over month in the GTA from $1,922 to $2,047, an increase of 6.5%.

The year started with average monthly rent up by 15% year over year in January but fell by -4% in May. A “bounce” in rents in June has brought apartments above the month’s 2019 level by 1.7%.

Condo apartments did not experience the same trend, and the report says rents declined 1.4% monthly and 8.7% annually — more than a full percent over the GTA’s average.

“When evaluating the movements in the ownership or rental markets, there is always a focus on average and median rent levels. However, these measures don’t always tell the full story because of the sample used to gauge those movements,” the report says, adding that everything from the layout to improvements to common spaces can impact the cost.

Overall, across the GTA, the report shows that rentals prices are down; just how much those declines will help struggling tenants remains to be seen.

Peter SmithPeter Smith

+ Real Estate
+ Urbanized
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