Surging demand for Toronto and area rental units continues to push rent prices closer to highs seen in the pre-lockdown era, a trend that showed no signs of slowing in June as the average monthly cost of a unit in the region took another massive leap.

The latest Greater Toronto Area rent report from Bullpen Research & Consulting and TorontoRentals.com highlights an astonishing 19 per cent year-over-year rent increase region-wide in June.

If you plan to sign a lease for a unit any time soon, you might want to sit down for this.

Based on @torentals listings data https://t.co/xymYgSSi4p

— Big Ben Myers 🐂✒️ (@benmyers29) July 26, 2022

It will now cost a renter an average of $2,403 per month for a unit in the region at large, compared to $2,018 during the same period last year.

Toronto renters will now have to fork over a June average of $2,748, the city's 19 per cent year-over-year rent increase matching the regional average.

In Toronto, the average monthly rent for condo rentals in June was $2,748, an increase of 19 per cent year over year.

Experts attribute the city's significant spike in rental costs to the post-vaccine bounceback, record immigration, and an influx of foreign university students, stressed by an undersupply of housing stock.

But if you thought Toronto was bad, take a look at Mississauga, where the monthly cost of renting a condominium unit jumped by 25 per cent compared to June 2021, with a June 2022 average of (and I swear I'm not making this up) $2,820. For Mississauga.

It appears all rental market segments are moving back to the normal growth patterns of the before times after falling 31 per cent to $2,600 in early 2021. The GTA luxury rental market actually reached its pre-lockdown high of $3,400 per month in June, a 21 per cent increase.

Luxury rentals are back to where they were in 2019, but the median rent in the region still has a bit of catching up to do. A 20 per cent year-over-year June increase to $2,250 represents substantial growth since the 2021 low of $1,850, but still a good distance behind the 2019 high of $2,400.

On a month-to-month basis, GTA rents climbed 5.7 per cent in May, and another 3.1 per cent in June.

Bullpen Research & Consulting expects GTA rents to "continue to rise for the foreseeable future, but at a slower monthly rate than the record-setting previous two months."