GTA Mississauga Rental Market Report 2018

High Home Ownership Costs Fuels Rental Demand

2018 has seen people seeking or remaining in rental accommodations due to rising costs of home ownership.  This has resulted in the average vacancy rates in the GTA to remain near the lowest levels since the past 16 years. See 2018 Q3 GTA Rental Market Report.

Even though home prices have moderated off after the spike in 2017, they still remain high relative to previous years. The average carrying costs associated with home buying have outpaced rent growth quite significantly.

Prices of condo apartments and townhouses, which are popular among first-time home buyers have shown a stronger price growth over detached or semi-detached home types. Borrowing costs have also gone up due to rising interest rates. In addition, stricter mortgage qualification criteria has made some buyers unable to qualify for home ownership. As a result. some of these potential home buyers may have turned to the rental market.

Higher Rent Increases 

The average rent growth exceeded the provincial guideline of 1.8% for 2018 as tight rental market conditions allowed landlords to charge new tenants significantly higher rents. High rent increases also made some existing renters to stay put at their current rental units. At the same time, high rents have encouraged individual investors to buy condos for the purpose of renting.

Demographics Support Rental Market

The population of individuals aged 25-44, a key demographic in the rental market, saw the strongest year-over-year growth in almost two decades at 3.9%. This segment has also seen significant growth in full-time employment, making them able to enter the rental market. The favourable economic conditions continue to draw immigrants and people on work permit to the GTA, which strengthens rental demand. International students is another key rental market segment which has been faster in the GTA as compared to other Canadian CMAs.

Purpose-built Rental Construction Rising

In recent years, developers are more inclined to build rental units, but their numbers still lag far behind demand. About 3,000 rental units were started in 2018 – the highest in 24 years. However, the total purpose built rental universe in the GTA only increased by 1% in 2018.

Rental Condo Apartment Market is Tight

Rising costs of home ownership for first time buyers, including millennials have kept the average condo apartment vacancy rate on par with last year’s nine-year low. Fewer number of new units were added to the rental pool in 2018, increasing the condo rental stock to just 3% in 2018 as compared to 5% in 2017. Many condo owners cashed in on their rental investment properties, further reducing availability of rental units.

Review the full  CMHC Rental Market Report for GTA 2018

How to Find a Rental Unit in Mississauga & area?

Tenants typically start their search online for leasing a condo apartment or a townhome. The most popular and reliable source is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) at Realtor.ca. This source is becoming increasingly popular as almost all lease listings with any Realtor get snapped up by eager tenants very fast these days. So as a renter, if you were to call a Realtor to find out if they have any lease units available, they are most likely to say they just leased their unit out!

You may want to still work with a Realtor to help you find a unit, who may not have any lease listings of their own at the time you are looking. When you work with a Realtor, he or she can review available options, book showings, inform you about required documents for you to furnish, submit your rental application and lease offer and arrange a meeting with the landlord to help you secure a condo apartment or a townhome. A typical lease is for a minimum of one year period. You are not required to pay any fee to your Realtor as the same is paid for by the landlord. However, if you are asked to sign a Buyer Representation Agreement, take the time to read it to make sure there are no ambiguous clauses.

Another option for you would be to check availability of rental units on realtor.ca yourself using your criteria, you can then directly call the listing agent to pursue that particular unit. In most cases, this process gets faster results for tenants.

What is Required for Renting a Unit in Mississauga & area?

You need to determine a realistic budget for leasing a condo apartment or a townhome in Mississauga & area based on current rental figures. The average monthly rent for a 1 BR + Den Condo in Downtown Mississauga is $2100 (including parking), while a 1 BR + Den Condo in Downtown Toronto will rent for $2300 per month (without parking, which is extra). View Homes & Condos for Rent in Mississauga to get a price idea.

You will be required to provide a letter from your employer that confirms your income, a reference from your current landlord and a copy of your credit score. Given how quickly the rental units get taken, it would be prudent for you to have these resources already available.