Rents dropping in Toronto, giving tenants more negotiating power, experts say

Talia Ricci · CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

If you're looking for a rental successful Toronto oregon adjacent an upgrade to a bigger abstraction  — now's not a atrocious clip to store around.

The mean terms for apartments and condos has been trending down for implicit a twelvemonth and arsenic a effect of the dilatory market, landlords are offering incentives to entice renters, specified as one period of escaped rent.

"What truly stands retired to america is that the rental marketplace has mislaid its consciousness of urgency," said Matisse Yiu, selling manager of Liv Rent.

"We're nary longer seeing radical scramble to unafraid a portion wrong the archetypal fewer hours of it being listed," she said.

According to Liv Rent's April market report, the mean outgo of a one chamber apartment downtown Toronto is $2,224 — astir $400 dollars little than the past rent highest successful October 2023, erstwhile the mean terms was $2,600.

Real property experts say some of the factors see precocious proviso successful the condo market, less request from planetary students with caller limits connected survey permits and an uncertain occupation market.

Yiu notes that people person besides been moving backmost successful with household oregon getting roommates to prevention money, and that determination is simply a signifier of radical leaving downtown Toronto for much affordable options.

"What's absorbing is that wrong the GTA we saw the numbers drop, but extracurricular the GTA we saw a flimsy summation successful rent prices," Yiu said, utilizing Niagara Falls arsenic an illustration arsenic a spot wherever rents person consistently been rising.

Realtors foretell the favourable marketplace for renters is impermanent successful Toronto but could proceed done the spring. 

Desmond Brown, a existent property cause astatine RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd., says often arsenic the upwind heats up, truthful does the competition. In this benignant of market, a communal determination is tenants upgrading their space.

"We'll beryllium seeing much enactment and radical moving into units that are a small spot bigger for the aforesaid price," Brown said.

Brown recommends that adjacent during a slower market, tenants should inactive beryllium prepared with their rental application, references, impervious of employment and a recognition score.