Toronto Rental Market Data: Rents, Vacancy and New Supply

The Headline Numbers

These figures come from two sources that measure different things. CMHC’s October Rental Market Survey counts every unit in purpose-built rental buildings plus a separate survey of rented condominiums.¹ Statistics Canada’s quarterly rent statistics track asking rents on listings, which is what a new applicant sees.⁴

Vacancy: Purpose-Built Up, Condos Still Tight

Purpose-built vacancy in the Toronto CMA went from 1.4% in 2023 to 2.5% in 2024 and 3.0% in 2025, the first time it has reached 3% since the pandemic years.^3,2 Rented condominiums moved far less, from 0.7% to 0.9%. CMHC’s explanation is that condo investors carry financing costs and have a lower tolerance for vacancy, so they negotiate on rent to fill units quickly.^1,2

The rise was widest in suburbs with colleges and universities. CMHC reports that Downsview, home to York University’s Keele campus, went from 0.7% vacancy in 2023 to 3.1% in 2025, and post-secondary neighbourhoods in Mississauga and Brampton passed 4%. Vacancy in Old Toronto held steady as return-to-office mandates pulled renters downtown.² Buildings completed in the past three years ran close to 7% vacancy, and 75% of structures completed since 2022 offered at least one incentive, most often one or two months free.^2,1

Rents: Sitting Tenants, New Leases and Condos

Three rent figures describe Toronto, and the gap between them matters when you read an application. In October 2025 the average purpose-built two-bedroom rent was $2,046 across all units, but $2,528 for units that were vacant and on offer, against $2,034 for occupied ones.¹ A rented condo two-bedroom averaged $2,891.¹

Listing prices have been falling for two years. The average two-bedroom asking rent peaked at $2,920 in the third quarter of 2023 and was $2,650 in the second quarter of 2026. Over the same period the average rent tenants actually pay kept climbing, to $2,160 for a two-bedroom.⁴ CMHC measured a 2.5% fall in turnover rents for two-bedroom units in 2025, as operators moved from incentives to outright rent cuts.²

Lower turnover rents also got people moving. The share of purpose-built units that changed tenants rose from 6.4% in 2024 to 8.7% in 2025 across the CMA.¹ CMHC still estimates the average GTA earner would spend 42% of after-tax income to rent a vacant one-bedroom.²

Supply: Purpose-Built vs Condo Rentals

Toronto’s rental stock has two halves. The CMHC universe of purpose-built apartments in the Toronto CMA was 336,180 units in October 2025, up from 334,748 a year earlier.¹ Alongside it, 214,083 condominium apartments were rented out, 40.3% of the 530,838 condos in the CMA.¹ CMHC reports that a weak resale market kept the investor-owned share of condos at a historic high.²

The pipeline is shifting toward purpose-built rental. Rental housing starts in the Toronto CMA ran between about 2,400 and 4,100 a year from 2015 to 2019, then reached 9,677 in 2023 and 9,154 in 2025. Condo starts fell from 28,987 in 2022 to 10,198 in 2025.⁵ In the first nine months of 2026 there were 8,282 rental starts and 5,072 condo starts.⁵

Many of these new units sit outside the rent increase guideline. In Ontario, the guideline and related rent rules do not apply to a unit in a building no part of which was occupied for residential purposes on or before November 15, 2018.⁶ That covers most newer condos and purpose-built buildings, and it is worth knowing when an applicant is leaving one.

What This Means for Screening

A market with more choice for tenants changes who applies and how a listing agent should read the file.

• Expect applicants who are trading down or across. With turnover at its highest in years and asking rents below their peak, many applicants are sitting tenants moving to a cheaper or newer unit. Their current landlord is a live reference; their previous one is often more candid. See how to check landlord references.
• Read the current rent in context. An applicant leaving a post-2018 condo may have faced an increase above the guideline, which is lawful for those units.⁶ A move to save money is not a red flag. A history of arrears is the thing to check.
• Incentives can blur the real rent. If the applicant’s current lease came with free months, the face rent on it overstates what they paid. Ask, and compare with their bank deposits and payments where they have connected an account.
• Condo landlords lease fast and decide alone. Individual investors fill units quickly and often without a property manager. The same rules apply to them: written consent, the regulation’s criteria, and no rent-to-income cut-off. See What Can a Landlord Ask on a Rental Application in Ontario?.
• Rising youth unemployment is a reason to verify the job, not to assume. CMHC notes Toronto’s unemployment rate rose in 2025, sharply for workers aged 15 to 24.² Confirm employment at the source; see how to verify a tenant’s employment.

For the province-wide picture, see Ontario Rental Market Data, and for who is renting, Who Rents in Ontario.

About the Data

• Vacancy, rents, universe, turnover and condo figures for October 2024 and 2025 are from CMHC’s Toronto Rental Market Report data tables (Tables 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.6, 1.1.9, 3.1.7, 4.1.1, 4.1.2 and 4.3.1), Toronto CMA unless marked GTA.¹
• The 2015 to 2023 vacancy series is CMHC data published by Statistics Canada in table 34-10-0127-01.³
• Asking and paid rents are Statistics Canada experimental estimates, table 46-10-0092-01, through Q2 2026. Paid rent is a three-quarter moving average and some quarters are flagged for use with caution.⁴
• Housing starts by intended market are CMHC data in Statistics Canada table 34-10-0148-01, summed from monthly values; starts are units begun, not completed.⁵
• The GTA and the Toronto CMA are different areas; CMHC reports both. Commentary is from CMHC’s 2025 Rental Market Report, published December 11, 2025.²

Questions

Sources

1. Rental Market Report data tables, Toronto, 2025

   Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Tables 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.6, 1.1.9, 3.1.7, 4.1.1, 4.1.2 and 4.3.1, Toronto CMA and regions, October 2024 and October 2025. Accessed October 22, 2026.

2. 2025 Rental Market Report

   Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Highlights; Greater Toronto Area section (vacancy, students, new structures and incentives, unemployment, condo vacancy, turnover rents, affordability). Published December 11, 2025. Accessed October 22, 2026.

3. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, vacancy rates, apartment structures of six units and over, privately initiated in census metropolitan areas (Table 34-10-0127-01)

   Statistics Canada (data from CMHC Rental Market Survey), Toronto, Ontario, annual (October), 2015 to 2025. Accessed October 22, 2026.

4. Asking rent and paid rent prices, by rental unit type and number of bedrooms, experimental estimates (Table 46-10-0092-01)

   Statistics Canada, Quarterly Rent Statistics, Toronto CMA, Apartment, 2 bedrooms; average asking rent and average paid rent, Q1 2019 to Q2 2026; table note 2. Accessed October 22, 2026.

5. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, by type of dwelling and market type in centres 10,000 and over (Table 34-10-0148-01)

   Statistics Canada (data from CMHC Starts and Completions Survey), Toronto, Ontario; Total units; Rental and Condo market types; monthly values January 2015 to September 2026, summed by calendar year. Accessed October 22, 2026.

6. Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17

   Government of Ontario, e-Laws, s. 6.1(2), exemptions from rules relating to rent, consolidated to September 21, 2026. Accessed October 22, 2026.