Greater Toronto Toronto Area condominium rental listings ballooned in the second quarter, says the region’s real estate board.

Condo rental listings jumped 51.3% year-over-year, the board reported.

“This meant that while demand for rental accommodation remained very strong, renters benefitted from more choice and negotiated lower average rents compared to a year ago,” said TRREB.

The listings surge coincided with an increase in rentals, which rose 25.2% year-over-year to 17,400.

“Record population growth kept the demand for condo rental apartments high in the second quarter,” said TRREB President Jennifer Pearce in a news release. “The affordability challenges associated with high mortgage payments for ownership housing also continued to be a driver of rental demand, especially given that we have seen some relief in rents over the past year.”

The average rent for a one-bedroom condo apartment $2,452, up 3.1% from the second quarter of 2023. But the average two-bedroom rent dipped 1.9% to $3,178 from $3,239 a year earlier.

“Demand for rental housing will be very strong for the foreseeable future. While the increase in available inventory over the past year has resulted in slightly more affordable rents, it is important to understand that this relief could be short-lived if we don’t see a steady stream of new rental units coming online, both in terms of purpose-built rental and investor-owned condo rental units.”