A new report indicates that rent prices in the City of Toronto just dropped for the third straight month in a row — a development which would've seemed highly impossible in pre-pandemic times. 

But according to the latest National Rent Report, produced by Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research & Consulting, rent prices in the city declined in March, April and May following many months of increases. 

Based on listings data on Rentals.ca, the report found that the average rent for apartments and condominium apartments in Toronto (former city boundaries, before amalgamation) declined by 0.5 per cent in May to $2,290 per month, which follows the 5.9 per cent monthly decline in April.

The latest @Rentalsdotca National Report Rent Report is out. Average rents in Canada decline 1.4% monthly for all property types. Condos/Apts in Toronto drop 0.5% month-over-month: https://t.co/l480SXEXre pic.twitter.com/S4oWr0cUS5

— Big Ben Myers 🐂✒️ (@benmyers29) June 11, 2020

And in the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA),  the average rent for all property types declined for the sixth consecutive month in May to $2,266.

The average rent in the metro area is down 4.7 per cent annually, and per-square-foot rent also declined in May by an average of 3.5 per cent compared to May 2019. 

Year over year, the report found that it is cheaper to rent in much of downtown Toronto in 2020. 

"It is cheaper to rent downtown, with apartment properties (both tenures) in postal code M5E offered at $3,029 per month during the first five months of 2019 dropping by $449 to $2,580 per month," reads the report.

"The popular M5V postal code in the downtown west area (Entertainment District, Cityplace, King West) is down $118 this year from $2,630 per month on average from January to May in 2019 to $2,512 during the same time span in 2020."

But it is still more expensive than average to rent in many Toronto neighbourhoods, including for properties with the postal code M4L, which is up $507 per month. 

And in comparison to other Canadian cities, Toronto had the highest rent for a one-bedroom home at $2,103 as well as the highest for a two-bedroom at $2,650 (all property types) of all 34 cities included in the report.

"Nine areas of the Greater Toronto Area finished in the top 10 for most expensive rent for a one-bedroom home in Canada," notes the report.

Some things never change.