Condo investors in the Greater Toronto Area are seeing strong gains in rents according to a new report.
Urbanation says that average monthly rents for condo leases signed in Q2-2018 grew by 11.2% year-over-year to $2,302 based on an average unit size rented of 732 sf.
It was also the first time that per square foot rents have surpassed $3.00, reaching $3.14 psf, an 8.7% annual rise.
However, leasing activity was at its lowest 12-month rate in three years with an exceptionally tight market meaning a total of 25,955 units leased through the MLS.
The share of condos that changed hands in the rental market was at a five-year low of 7.8% of the entire stock of GTA condos.
Construction rise
New purpose-built rental construction surged in Q2, with 2,635 starts recorded during the quarter, raising the total inventory under construction to 11,073 units — the highest in at least 30 years.
During Q2-2018, new applications totaling 5,920 units were proposed for purpose-built rental development, nearly 3.5 times greater than the number of new units proposed a year ago during Q2-2017.
