As of today, September 24th, 2026, there are 10,815 places for sale in Toronto. That includes 4,199 freehold homes as well as 6,616 condominiums. If that seems like a lot of properties on the market, that’s because it is! While Toronto often has significant levels of properties being bought and sold, in the past couple of years we’ve hit all time high levels of properties that are for sale.
The latest population estimate for Toronto proper (not the GTA, just Toronto) puts it at about 3.27 million residents. That means there is one place for sale for about every 303 people in the city.
When we originally wrote about this in 2016, there were only 4,848 places for sale and about 2.8 million people living in Toronto, or one property for sale for every 575 people. For those of you who tried to buy a home back then, that number probably feels about right. Some of you may be saying, “Jeff, I think there were closer to 600 people trying to buy the house I wanted.”
No question about it, things have changed.
Back then, there were such low numbers of homes for sale that many people decided to rent instead of buying, hoping that in a year or two the market would have cooled and they would be able to find a home in their budget.
While no one can say for sure what will happen in the housing market, the funny thing was that the big problem with deciding to rent wasn’t necessarily missing out on continued appreciation in property values.
The big problem was actually finding a rental property.
So, ten years later, how are we doing?
If we look on the Toronto MLS system for rental properties, we see 7,624 freehold homes and condominiums for rent as of today. That includes 3,134 freehold properties and 4,490 condominiums and works out to about one MLS rental for every 429 people in the city.
That’s quite a difference from the 3,216 rentals that were available when we originally wrote this article – in fact, it’s more than double.
Before you celebrate and assume finding a rental in Toronto has become easy, we should point out that supply is only one part of the equation. Demand for rental properties continues to be high in Toronto proper, so even with lots of options on the MLS for prospective tenants, it doesn’t mean you’re the only one looking.
Another key point is that for rental properties, the Toronto MLS system isn’t the same dominant portal that it is for home sales. While a significant number of homes for sale go up on MLS (and therefore on REALTOR.ca and all other realtor sites), a considerable number of rental properties never make it onto MLS at all.
Purpose-built rental buildings often rent directly to tenants, while individual landlords can advertise through rental websites, online marketplaces, social media and a growing number of other options.
Landlords choose to not using a real estate agent for three main reasons, so let’s review.
The Case Against #1 – Hiring an agent is (relatively) expensive.
Real estate commissions aren’t standard and are negotiable, but there is a fairly significant difference between the economics of selling a property and renting one out for a landlord client.
When we list a residential property for rent, we charge one month’s rent. If another Realtor is involved, such as an agent who brings the eventual tenant, half of that amount goes to the co-operating brokerage and half goes to our brokerage.
If we agree that in most cases we are initially looking at a 12-month lease, one month is 8.33% of the income from that first year. In essence, that’s a commission of 8.33% on the first year’s gross rental income and the homeowner may have considerable expenses — mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities, maintenance fees or repairs — that mean the actual cash flow from the property is substantially lower.
On a property renting for $3,000 a month, for example, that’s $36,000 in rent over the first year and a $3,000 (plus HST) leasing commission.
That’s enough money that it’s understandable why some landlords decide to try renting the property themselves.
The Case Against #2 – It’s a formal process.
Hiring a Realtor to rent out your home involves a fair bit of paperwork. The documents that a homeowner fills out to rent their home are pretty similar to the documents you fill out to sell a home, and Realtors have obligations when dealing with rentals just as they do when selling homes.
The process has become even more formal over time, with additional government regulations being put into place.
Since 2018, most private residential tenancies in Ontario have been required to use the Ontario Standard Lease, and the Residential Tenancies Act establishes rules dealing with everything from deposits and rent increases to maintenance, landlord entry and ending a tenancy.
Using a Realtor doesn’t guarantee that every landlord will follow every rule, and there are certainly plenty of good landlords who rent their properties without using one. It does, however, create a more structured and documented process which is both a good and bad thing. There’s a listing agreement, information about the property, an application and offer process and, usually, Realtors involved on both sides who deal with rental transactions regularly.
There is another important consideration for landlords that sometimes gets missed when they are deciding how much effort (and money) to put into finding the right tenant. Almost all leases start with a one-year term, but that doesn’t mean the tenant leaves after a year. In Ontario, when that initial term expires, the tenancy generally continues month-to-month unless the tenant decides to leave or one of the legally permitted reasons for ending the tenancy applies.
So, while you may be signing a one-year lease, you could be choosing someone who will be living in your property for considerably longer than that – and it’s very important to get a good quality tenant.
The Case Against #3 – There are alternatives to using real estate agents.
Unlike when a homeowner is selling a home, there are plenty of alternatives in place that can legitimately claim to be good sources of potential tenants.
This is probably the part of the rental market that has changed the most since we first talked about it back in 2016. Back then, we talked about Craigslist, Kijiji, Viewit.ca and gottarent.com. Some of those are still around, but landlords now have considerably more ways to advertise a rental property themselves. There are dedicated rental websites, online marketplaces, social media, property management companies and purpose-built rental platforms, along with landlords and apartment buildings that operate their own websites and leasing systems.
The advantage for a landlord is obvious. They can potentially find a tenant without paying a full leasing commission.
The disadvantage is that they have to do the work themselves, which can be considerable. They need to respond to enquiries, schedule showings, deal with people who may or may not actually show up, request and review applications, verify information and ultimately decide who they want living in their property.
We often work with clients who are looking to rent a home for a bit before they buy. They hire us as their Realtors because all of these different options can make the hunt for a rental a surprisingly frustrating process. They contact people about listings and never hear back, they show up for appointments to be told it was just rented, and they sometimes find properties that look considerably better online than they do when you actually walk through the front door. Actually, to be fair, that happens a lot to us as well!
We’ve explained why there are quality homes and honest landlords who choose not to use a Realtor, but there are also some good reasons why landlords decide that having someone handle the process is worth the cost.
The Case For #1 – They’re paying someone to get it done properly and quickly.
Landlords who hire Realtors to list and rent out their property are motivated to get quality tenants into the unit in a timely fashion. They don’t want to deal with dozens or hundreds of calls and emails from potential tenants, scheduling showings that may or may not actually show up, requesting and reviewing applications, references, employment information and credit reports.
While owning income properties can be quite lucrative, we’ve never encountered an investor who got into the landlord business because they enjoy the process of finding tenants. The cost of hiring an agent is just part of the cost of doing business.
The Case For #2 – They don’t want any trouble.
If you hire a real estate agent, the formality of the rental process can actually be comforting to a landlord. While there is a lot to go over, it shows that there are defined processes, built on experience and making sure things go smoothly. Most landlords don’t want to get in trouble with the municipality, their condo corporation or the Landlord and Tenant Board. They want a quality tenant, at a fair rent, who pays on time, respects the property and helps them pay off their mortgage over time.
Our clients who hire us to rent out their properties appreciate that at the end of the process, they have proof it was done properly. Every transaction we do ends with a single file with all of the the information about the agreement, who is involved and the terms agreed upon.
The Case For #3 – They appreciate a buffer between them and the process.
Landlords who hire Realtors are well aware of the free and paid sites they can use to rent out properties. In some cases, they have used them with limited success, while in other cases they simply no longer have the time and energy to do it again.
It takes time to list your property, respond to enquiries, assess who is a good option and who isn’t and then do the work to decide on the right tenant. Mistakes can also be made when landlords don’t understand the rules, and those mistakes can end up being very costly.
On the tenant side, we find that when we are approached by individuals who want to hire us as their Realtors to find a rental property, it is often because they have grown tired of attempting to do it on their own. They may have tried to find something privately, or they may have tried to find something on MLS but been frustrated by the process.
There is also something to be said for putting together a good rental application.
A landlord isn’t just choosing a monthly rent. They’re choosing the person who may be living in a property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially for years. Having the right supporting documents, presenting the information clearly and making it easy for the landlord to understand why you’re a good tenant can make a real difference.
We started by saying we wrote about this exact topic in 2016, and now here we are, ten years later.
There are 7,624 rental properties currently available on MLS compared to just 3,216 when we originally wrote this article, so it’s clear that the rental market is a major component of the city’s real estate market. Toronto’s population has grown considerably over that same period, but nowhere near as quickly as the number of MLS rentals available on the day we ran these searches.
That doesn’t mean finding the right rental property is easy, and it certainly doesn’t mean that every neighbourhood, price range or type of property has lots of options. It does mean there are considerably more choices on MLS than there were when we originally sat down to write this.
If you or someone you like wants to either rent out or find a rental unit, please get in touch with us. If you are looking for a tenant, we’re experienced at finding quality tenants who will take good care of your property and pay on time. If you are looking to rent a place, we can make finding, scheduling and showing you your next home a lot smoother. In either case, get in touch with us to discuss next steps!
