While growth has slowed in the Canadian rental market in recent months, homeownership affordability has tightened in the first half of the year. This is expected to take a toll on rental prices and drive them upwards again in the coming months.
The question now for prospective homebuyers is whether it’s more affordable to buy a home and pay the monthly mortgage payments or to rent. To find out, we analyzed data provided by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board to learn which cities across the GTA would be more affordable to purchase a home in or whether renting is the more affordable option currently.
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Rent is More Affordable in Every GTA City
It’s vastly more affordable to rent than it is to buy a home, currently. The majority of cities in the GTA have average home prices of over $1,000,000. A home at $1,000,000 would set you back $4,626 on monthly mortgage payments. The most expensive average rent payment across the entire GTA is $3,263, in Brampton. That is just over $1,400 less than what you would pay on a home at $1,00,000 and is over $1,900 less than what you would pay on your mortgage payments on a home at the actual average price in the city – $1,113,948.
The most affordable city in terms of mortgage payments in the GTA where data is available is Orangeville, where the monthly mortgage payment for a house at the average price would be $3,920. Rent in the city is an average of $1,663, just under $2,300 a month cheaper than monthly mortgage payments. The next most affordable would be Oshawa, where mortgage payments would be $3,954 a month on an average home costing $854,822, whereas rent payments would set you back $1,992 a month. It is worth noting that these rental numbers are from Q1 and rent prices have been trending upwards since then.
Simply put, renting is a lot more affordable right now than the average mortgage in the GTA. However, there are a few caveats to this.
Renting is Cheaper – But Is Everything As it Seems?
While the numbers may suggest renting is the way to go right now, it’s not always that simple. Aside from the ability to build up equity in a home you own, it’s important to take into account that mortgage payments are being driven up because of heightened interest rates. According to Ratehub.ca a homeowner with a $500,000 mortgage and a 5.75% variable rate will have seen a total increase of about $1,425 per month in mortgage payments since the Bank of Canada began raising rates in March 2022.
As the Bank continues to wrestle with inflation in pursuit of its 2% inflation target, prospective and current homeowners will have to battle with the fact that mortgage payments will be a little higher for a while. However, if the Bank hits its target, these payments will decrease in the future for variable rate holders and those renewing their mortgages.
Rent is not guaranteed to follow the same trajectory. With higher home prices, and, more significantly, a lack of housing supply that is likely to persist for a while, the rental market will benefit from those either priced out or just unable to find a home. According to rentals.ca “Average asking rents in Canada hit a record high of $2,042 in June, surpassing the previous record set in November 2022 ($2,024) by 0.9%. The 1.4% increase in rents from May represented the fastest month-over-month increase so far this year, causing the annual rate of rent inflation to accelerate to 7.5% from the 6.5% annual rate recorded in May. Over the past two years, average asking rents in Canada have increased by 20%, or by an average of $341.”
Not sure whether renting or buying is the best option? Whatever you decide, we’re here to help! Give us a call today! We can help find the perfect home to meet your needs.
