Photo: PJMixer/Flickr
An estimated 71,905 condos were rented out in Toronto-proper as of October 2014, according to the fall rental market report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). It’s an 18.2 per cent jump over the number of condos in the rental market at the same time in 2013.
As fewer and fewer builders develop rental apartment buildings in the city, condos are becoming a bigger part of the city’s rental landscape. But even with the building boom, it doesn’t appear that demand for condo rentals in the city is slowing down. Compared to private apartments, defined by the CMHC as purpose-built apartment buildings home to three units or more, the vacancy rate is lower for condos.
While the vacancy rate for apartments in Toronto was 1.6 per cent both in 2014 and 2013, condo rentals saw the rate slip from 1.7 per cent last year to 1.3 per cent this year.
It’s a trend that’s played out in large parts of the city. In Toronto Centre, which encompasses the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto plus the former boroughs of York and East York, the vacancy rate for condo rentals was the tightest in the city at 1.1 per cent. The vacancy rate for apartment rentals in the same region was higher at 1.6 per cent.
In Toronto West (Etobicoke), the condo vacancy rate was 1.8 per cent compared to 2.2 per cent for apartments. In Toronto North (North York), the vacancy rate for both condo rentals and apartments was the same at 1.3 per cent. Toronto East (Scarborough) was the only part of the city where the vacancy rate for condo rentals was higher than apartments at 2 per cent to 1.4 per cent, respectively.
But prices for condo rentals were significantly higher compared to apartments across the city. Condos are typically newer than the city’s rental apartment stock and are frequently home to on-site perks like gyms and ensuite laundry. In Toronto, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom condo is $1,565 or 46.1 per cent higher than the going rate for a 1-bedroom apartment at $1,071. It’s a trend seen in each of the regions, whether you’re looking at two-bedroom or one-bedroom units (the data for bachelor and three-bedroom apartments is incomplete).
To get a better sense of the differences between condo rentals and apartments in Toronto, check out the tables below:
For more info on condo rents and apartments rents, check out our interactive map.
