{"id":1528,"date":"2026-04-28T08:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/toronto-rental-market-why-are-vacancies-up-yet-rents-high\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:01:30","slug":"toronto-rental-market-why-are-vacancies-up-yet-rents-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/toronto-rental-market-why-are-vacancies-up-yet-rents-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Rental Market: Why Are Vacancies Up Yet Rents High?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The GTA rental market is showing signs of a shift, with vacancy rates for new buildings climbing to 5.4 per cent in Q1 2026\u2014the highest level since the pandemic. According to Urbanation, this influx of new supply has created downward pressure on rents, which now average $3.52 per square foot ($2,525\/month). To compete, 66 per cent of projects are now offering incentives, such as two months of free rent or cash bonuses. Despite this cooling, many tenants still find units unaffordable, as new builds lack rent control and overall demand remains high. While luxury rentals continue to perform well due to scarcity, average renters remain priced out. For a deeper look at the data behind these trends and the challenges facing GTA tenants, read the full report at the Toronto Star.<\/p>\n<p><!-- RealEstateToday Source Article --><\/p>\n<div data-original-url=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/real-estate\/the-vacancy-rate-is-up-for-new-toronto-area-rental-buildings-so-why-is-it-still-so-expensive-to-rent\/article_fa17e4ea-4f87-4760-9ef0-af79545705b7.html\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/real-estate\/the-vacancy-rate-is-up-for-new-toronto-area-rental-buildings-so-why-is-it-still-so-expensive-to-rent\/article_fa17e4ea-4f87-4760-9ef0-af79545705b7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the original article<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- RealEstateToday Instagram Handles --><\/p>\n<div data-instagram-handles=\"@urbanationinc,@harveykalles\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vacancy rates for new Toronto rentals hit 5.4%, but are prices actually falling? Discover the latest market trends and why affordability remains a struggle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[182,314,211,207,798],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-data","tag-gta","tag-housing-affordability","tag-rental-market","tag-toronto","tag-urbanation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realestategtatoday.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}