Average rental prices in Toronto are up nearly 23 per cent compared to a year ago but down slightly when compared to the past three months, a new report says. 

Rentals.ca and Urbanation released its latest National Rent Report which takes a look at monthly, quarterly and annual rates and trends within the rental market on a national, provincial, and municipal level.

Toronto ranked with the second highest average monthly rent among a list of 25 cities in the country. When it came to the average monthly rent in February, a one-bedroom was priced at $2,501, up 21.5 per cent year-over-year, and a two-bedroom rental hit $3,314, a 9.4 per cent annual increase.

In February, the average rental price for condos and apartments was $2,838, marking the second fastest annual rent growth for this property type in the country (up 22.8% y-o-y), despite a 0.9 per cent three-month decline.

The report also found that the fastest growing medium-sized markets for purpose-built and condominium rents in February were all in southwestern Ontario, including in Brampton, Kitchener, and Scarborough, among others. However, in Greater Toronto Area cities, annual increases for purpose-built and condo apartments have been up in Etobicoke, Burlington, Vaughan and Oakville. 

Ontario experienced a 16.2 per cent increase in rent year-over-year in February for purpose-built and condominium apartments at $2,407, only slightly behind British Columbia with an average price of $2,449.

In Canada, the average asking rent for all property types rose 9.7 per cent annually last month to $1,984.

“The rental market experienced a pull back over the past three months following record-breaking rent growth in 2022. The recent slowing can be related to high rental costs impacting affordability and an increase in new supply from apartment completions. However, several key markets experiencing high demand continued to see rents trend higher last month,.” President of Urbanation, Shaun Hildebrand, said in the report.

For the first time since June, average rent prices across the country did not increase by double digits last month. Rents dropped by 0.6 per cent from January and by two per cent over the past three months, based on the report.