What Do Apartments Actually Rent For in Toronto? Closed Lease Data, Not Asking Prices (August 2026)
The short answer: in Toronto's as-of-right sixplex wards, 2026 closed leases — not asking prices — show 3-bedroom units renting from ~$3,850 to $4,600, and 2-bedrooms from ~$2,350 to $4,195 depending on location. Asking prices tell you what landlords hope. Closed leases tell you what tenants signed. The gap between those two numbers is where most underwriting goes wrong.
Updated August 2026 · Based on ~1,900 closed 2026 leases tracked across ten MLS districts · MBL Developments
Why closed data changes everything
Almost everyone underwriting a rental building uses asking prices — because that's what's visible on listing sites. But an asking price is an opening position, not a market fact. A unit listed at $4,500 that closes at $4,100 after three weeks tells you the market said $4,100.
We track closed leases across the nine as-of-right sixplex wards — roughly 1,900 of them in 2026 so far — and sort them by unit type, because a building's income is the sum of its units, not an average of its neighbourhood.
What the closes say, by unit type
Sorted by unit type across the as-of-right sixplex wards, 2026 closed unit medians land roughly at $3,850–4,600 for 3-bedrooms and $2,350–4,195 for 2-bedrooms, with one-bedrooms closing $1,850–2,900. The spread within each unit type reflects building age, form and location — nearly all of the higher evidence is older stock, and purpose-built new units have printed at or above those numbers. One-bedrooms sit well below family-sized units, which is exactly why family-sized units are the play.
The pattern on matched floor plates: comparing like-for-like units (same building form, similar finish) in our closed set, the 3-bedroom premium over a 2-bedroom runs $300–400+/month — raw all-stock medians spread wider, because 2-bed stock skews to smaller and lower units — and 3-bedroom supply is nearly nonexistent, because so few are built. That's the single most underpriced fact in Toronto's rental market.
How to use this (and how not to)
- Underwrite each unit against closed leases of the same unit type in the same pocket — never against a neighbourhood average that blends basements with penthouses.
- Treat asking prices as a sentiment indicator, not evidence.
- If your pro forma needs the top observed close on every unit to work, it doesn't work.
Frequently asked questions
Where does this data come from? Licensed MLS records of closed leases, compiled and analyzed monthly. We publish aggregates; the unit-level database is what we underwrite with.
Do new builds rent above these numbers? The observed closes are dominated by older stock. New purpose-built units — proper layouts, in-suite laundry, no basement compromises — have printed at or above the older-stock band in our 2025–26 closed set — face rents. In an incentive-heavy new-supply market (CMHC’s October 2025 survey: ~7% vacancy and widespread incentives in buildings under three years old), underwrite the effective rent, not the headline.
Why publish this? Because the market prices what it can see, and almost nobody can see closes. We think better information makes a better market — and we're building in it either way.
Monthly closed-rent updates, real build costs, and the financing mechanics we work through.