Maeve Ellis had given up on finding an apartment with friends while studying at the University of Toronto for the past couple of years.
This year, though, when she restarted the hunt for a shared apartment, she found a distinctly different market. It only took one viewing and application before she locked down a three-bedroom unit with two friends near her school for $2,400 a month – well below current market rates. said Giacomo Ladas, a spokesperson with Rentals.ca, who said rents were now at a 22-month low in Toronto.
The rates in Toronto are now closer to prepandemic levels, when the average one-bedroom unit was $2,315 in February, 2020. However, rates are still much higher in Vancouver, where the average one-bedroom in February, 2020, was listed at $1,882. “At newer buildings, a lot of landlords will accept students because they really want to fill the units,” said Mr. Bahl, who added that some owners are facing mortgage costs and condo fees above $4,000 a month.As rents soar, living near campus comes at an even higher premium for some students in Canada
The softening in rental prices in Toronto also doesn’t bring them back to prepandemic levels, and Mr. Ladas said vacancy rates remain below 1.5 per cent in Toronto and Vancouver.