With the Toronto real estate market the hottest in the country right now, some of the heat is pushing over into the rental housing market. No one is feeling that more than prospective renters of condo units, which skyrocketed in price throughout 2016.

Back in October last year, the average rent for a one bedroom Toronto condo unit had reached $1,777. Over the course of the fourth quarter, that number reached $1,990, marking an 11.7 per cent increase year over year.

This poses a number of problems for Toronto's rental market. The vacancy rate currently hovers around 1.6 per cent, and of the available units at least 20 per cent tend to be condos. That means significant increases to condo rental rates send a ripple effect across the entire market.

At present there's no end in sight to the high rents condo are fetching. As the cost to buy units pushes higher and higher, the rents creep up nearly in lockstep.