Toronto renters can't seem to catch a break (after catching that one, unthinkably-rare break a few years back when public health concerns unexpectedly drove monthly rent prices in the city down by as much as 20 per cent over the course of a single year.)

The downtown Toronto rental market has now not only fully rebounded from pandemic lows, but has gone on to surpass the historically-high median rent prices we were seeing in 2019.

And then some. And then some more.

Canada's latest National Rent Report, released by rentals.ca and Urbanation on Monday, states that average asking rents increased 9.7 per cent, year over year, across the country to reach an average of $1,984 in February of 2023.

That's up from what was reported by the same analysts in February of 2o22, when the average monthly asking rent for properties on a national basis was $1,820 (up 6.2 per cent over the previous February.)

"Asking rents in Canada increased 9.7 per cent annually to an average of $1,984 in February [2023]," reads the report in question. And yet, rent prices appear to have fallen across the country on a month-over-month basis since January of 2023.

"The annual rate of rent inflation has been moderating since reaching a high of 12.4 per cent in November 2022. Rents decreased 0.6 perct from January 2023, the third consecutive monthly decline, and decreased by a cumulative 2.0 per cent over the past three months, indicating some softening in the market related to reduced affordability in the rental market."

Unfortunately for people who live in (or are planning on living in) large  Canadian urban centres like Toronto or Vancouver, prices continue to rise both year-over-year and month-over month for myriad reasons.

"Toronto experienced the second fastest annual rent growth of 22.8 per cent," reads the report, placing Ontario's capital city behind only Calgary, Alberta, for year-over-year price gains.

"Rents in Toronto were well above the national average, with one-bedrooms averaging $2,513, two-bedrooms averaging $3,324, and three-bedrooms averaging $3,843."

Comparing the rent price hikes and drops between major Canadian cities does little, however, for those who live in said cities and must somehow pay their bills in markets that are increasingly unaffordable by any standard.

To that end, Vancouver remains the most expensive city for renters in Canada, with an average one-bedroom unit being listed at $2,657 per month as of February 2023, and a two-bedroom unit going for $3,716.

Rents may have only gone up by 19 per cent, year-over-year, in Vancouver, but they were exorbitant to start with, giving the west-coast metropolis nothing to worry about (or perhaps everything to worry about) when it comes to retaining its position as the most expensive rental market in Canada.

Below, per Urbanation and rentals.ca, is a breakdown of how Canada's 35 most-populous cities fared in terms of fluctuating rent prices between January and February of 2023, and between February of 2022 compared to one year later.