Renters in GTA paying 11% more for a one-bedroom home

Rents have increased significantly in the Greater Toronto Area in the past year.

Toronto Real Estate Board says that average rents for a 1-bedroom apartment reached $1,970 in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 10.9% year-over-year. For a 2-bedroom apartment, average rents were up 8.8% to $2,627.

"As the population in the GTA continues to grow, so too does the demand for rental accommodation. The problem is that rental supply has not kept up with the increase in demand in recent years. The result has been low vacancy rates and intense competition between renters for available units. This competition has underpinned very strong growth in average rents," Tim Syrianos, TREB president.

Listings of rental apartments were down 3.4% in Q4, 2017 compared to a year earlier and leased units were down 0.7%.

"Looking forward, we continue to have concerns that rent control legislation announced in conjunction with the Ontario Fair Housing Plan will preclude additional rental supply coming on stream, both in the purpose-built and investor-held condominium apartment segments. Going further, it is possible that current owners of condominium apartments could choose to list their units for sale to take advantage of recent price gains rather than rent their units to tenants under the new rent control regime," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.

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