Are Renters Living Their Toronto Dream?

Are renters who have always wanted to live in Canada’s two most expensive cities taking advantage of current COVID-driven cheap rents and “unheard of move-in specials” to fulfill their dreams?

That’s how Padmapper, a rental website, explains why for the first time since January 2020, one-bedroom rents in both Vancouver and Toronto were flat on a monthly basis.

“These flat rates,” said Padmapper, "may be a result of a recent migration of renters who never lived in these pricey cities but wanted to take advantage of the cheap rent and unheard of move-in specials currently being offered.

 “New renters moving in evens out the overall demand, so we aren’t seeing the trend of continuous decline in rent prices anymore,” PadMapper says in its new Canadian rent report.

Working from home

News reports and real estate analysis about the fall in rents in Toronto and Vancouver have speculated that people forced by the pandemic to work from home have fled the city core in search larger working space in the suburbs and smaller urban centres.

The PadMapper Canadian Rent Report analyzes rental data from hundreds of thousands of active listings across the country. Listings are then aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 24 most populous metro areas, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the rental market.

This report which delivers a view of the current state of the Canadian rental market is based on all data available in the month prior to publication.

Vancouver most expensive

This report does not include short term or Airbnb listings.

Perhaps unexpectedly (or maybe not), Vancouver retains the title of having Canada’s most expensive rent, even though the prices for one-bedroom ($1,900) and two-bedrooms ($2,600) were flat.

Toronto, which is in the midst of another pandemic lockdown, came in second. Rents in The6ix stayed flat, with a one-bedroom renting for $1,750 while a two-bedroom was $2,300.

Barrie is on the rise

The other three cities rounding out the most expensive top five were Burnaby, BC, Barrie, Ont., and Victoria, BC.

Barrie moved up a spot from February to be the fourth priciest city. The rental price for one-bedroom in the city of 153,000 just outside the GTA increased an impressive 5 per cent to $1,700. The price for a two-bedroom rental grew 4.7 per cent to $1,770.

Interestingly, five of the cities in the top 10 were in Ontario (Oshawa, Ottawa,Kitchener). The province had 10 cities in the top 25.

Oshawa jumped two spots and now ranks as the seventh most expensive city. The largest city in the increasingly popular Durham region saw a one-bedroom rising 4.3 per cent to $1,450.

In Hamilton, a one-bedroom rent rose 2.2 per cent to $1,400, making the city also known as The Hammer the ninth priciest in Canada.

The nation’s capital – Ottawa – tied for  seventh,  with one-bedroom rent rising 2.1 per cent to $1,450.

The immigration factor

What is not in Padmapper’s most recent analysis is the impact that vital immigration delayed by the pandemic and travel restrictions are having on the rental market.

Immigrants are, says the Housing Market Assessment by the CMHC, a key driver of rental demand in the country’s major housing markets. 

With the closure of international borders, immigration has slowed significantly, and the number of permanent residents coming into Canada declined, contributing to higher vacancy rates in some housing markets.

Canada has set a target of 400,000 newcomers for 2021 and every year through to 2025.

Canada is on schedule

Recent data released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) indicates that Canada is on schedule to achieve its goal of welcoming 400,000 new immigrants in 2021.

Across Canada, 10 cities saw rent price hikes while five remained flat, and nine had decreasing rates, according to PadMapper.

And finally - who claimed the title as least expensive city in the Padmapper report?

That honour went again to Quebec City. The capital of La Belle Province overtook St. John’s as the least expensive rental city in the country in March and has remained flat in April. A one-bedroom rental goes for an astonishingly low $790, while two-bedrooms average at $1,150.

You can read the full report here.