About Toronto Condo Rentals

Recently, I reported that the rental vacancy rate for condos in downtown Toronto was less than 1%. Some people thought I made this up. TREB just reported that the last quarter of 2011 showed the condo rental vacancy rate for the GTA was 1.3%. This is for the entire GTA. The demand for condo rentals downtown is higher than the rest of the GTA. As I said before, well below 1%.

Note that 4664 units were rented in the GTA during the final quarter, up over 2% over 2010. The number of listings was down by 7% over the same quarter. Once again, a recipe for higher rents.

Rents for 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units rose over the year by four and five percent, respectively.

TREB found that: “The number of renters looking for apartments with modern finishes and amenities has steadily increased. The main source for these types of units has been investor-held condominium apartments. As renters have flocked to this segment of the rental market, upward pressure on rents has increased.”

Pro-rated over the year, the rental market is absorbing almost 20,000 units. This is one reason why the Toronto condo market is so strong. It has de facto replaced the apartment market for new inventory.