Though experts have forecasted a rise in Toronto rent prices this year after the rental market took a huge hit from the pandemic, the trend is still going downwards, with rents in the GTA down for the 14th consecutive month.

The data from TorontoRentals.com and Bullpen Research & Consulting's latest GTA Rent Report shows rents across the region hit an average of $1,993 for all property types and sizes, based on January numbers released last month.

Average rent and average rent per square foot in the GTA over the last two years. Chart from TorontoRentals.com and Bullpen Research & Consulting's Toronto GTA February Rent Report 2021.

This is a huge drop of 17 per cent from the same time last year, just as the health crisis was beginning and before the decline of travel and immigration, mass business closures, new rules for and bans on short-term rentals, and an exodus of people from downtown T.O. as work-from-home became the norm.

The biggest change was in the smallest units, micro-condos of under 500 square feet that notoriously started flooding the market as residents left to seek more space to live in during stay-at-home orders and Airbnbs were left vacant for months. 

How average rents compare last month in different parts of the GTA. Chart from  TorontoRentals.com and Bullpen Research & Consulting's Toronto GTA February Rent Report 2021.

In Toronto, smaller units saw an average price drop of 23 per cent year-over-year, plummeting to $1,691, with the report noting that "with many tenants now working from home, the smallest apartments in Toronto are less desirable, and have experienced significant rent declines."

As such, condo rentals as a whole in Toronto were down 20 per cent from January 2020, hitting $2,000 even, on average, for all sizes, and the firms expect that the declines will continue for all housing types for the next six months until vaccinations ramp up and things get back to normal.

The average prices for different unit sizes in the GTA last month. Chart from  TorontoRentals.com and Bullpen Research & Consulting's Toronto GTA February Rent Report 2021.

For those looking to buy, however, residential real estate sales have hardly been swayed by COVID-19 one bit despite its devastating economic impacts on other industries.

The average price of residential real estate creeped over $1 million in the GTA for the first time ever last month, while the average price for a home in Toronto proper hit a whopping $996,000 after months of a booming market.