In recent years, Toronto’s rental market has been characterized by decade-low vacancy rates, limited available supply, and high demand. However, the immediate economic impact of COVID-19, the social-distancing measures it brought on, border closures, and restrictions on schools, workplaces, and businesses had a domino effect on the rental market in the second Quarter of 2020.
“Previously, it was rather difficult and competitive for renters to attain their desired unit, particularly in the downtown area in the early days of the pandemic in March and April, many renters who were unsure how COVID-19 would affect their jobs and daily lives chose to terminate their leases to seek out better affordability, find a larger space, far from downtown area and with cheaper costs. The market began to pick up again as Ontario progressed through reopening in June, however the full picture of recovery remains unclear in the face of ongoing healthcare uncertainties.
Our data offers a view of condo rental market movement in the second quarter of 2020.
Our findings show that across most City of Toronto neighbourhoods, there was a divergence between condo rental listings added and the number of leased units: most areas experienced an increase in the number of rental listings added while the number of leased units dropped. For the City of Toronto as a whole, condo rental listings grew 45% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020, while the number of condos leased declined 25% for the same period.
Our studies confirmed that across the City of Toronto, condo rental listings noted y-o-y growth in 25 neighbourhoods, while just 3 neighbourhoods saw growth in new condo leases last quarter.
New condo rental listings in Q2 increased in the double digits in 20 neighbourhoods across the city. Of these, 5 neighbourhoods noted faster growth in condo rental new listings than the city average. This includes the C01 (Downtown, Entertainment District, Cityplace, and Liberty Village) neighbourhood that is popular for short-term rentals, where listings rose 80% y-o-y in Q2, while there was a 14% y-o-y decline in condo leases in Q2.
Just 3 neighbourhoods noted an annual increase in condo leases in Q2, however, according to TREB info, in two of these neighbourhoods this increase may have little to do with COVID-19 at all.
in neighbourhoods like C11 (Leaside, Thorncliffe Park, Flemington Park) and E01 (Leslie Ville, Riverside, Little India) the supply surge was simply due to occupancy beginning at a few brand-new buildings and not a direct impact of COVID-19.
In C11, new listings rose a whopping 461% y-o-y in Q2 and there was a 352% increase in new condo leases
These changes in almost all neighbourhoods is good news for renters as it puts downward pressure on prices in these neighbourhoods. In some area like North York the rental price has no change compare with Feb & March 2020 and in few western communities like W1 ,W4 & W5 the rental price faced with some increase .
To better understand the extent to which the condo rental market was impacted by COVID-19, we have reviewed quarterly data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) to highlight how condo apartment rental listing and lease rate trends have shifted across Toronto’s various neighbourhoods during last 3 month.
For a more detailed analysis, condo investors and renters should more closely review listing trends for properties that match their needs in their neighbourhoods of interest.
