Quebec City vs Toronto: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Quebec City edges ahead of Toronto on higher occupancy (62% vs 56%), stronger RevPAR (£30 vs £25).

Head-to-head metrics

	Quebec City	Toronto
Median occupancy	62%	56%
Median daily rate	£70	£75
Median RevPAR	£30	£25
Active listings	1,884	11,370
YoY occupancy	+11 pts	+23.1 pts
YoY daily rate	+11%	-3.7%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Quebec City vs Toronto

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Quebec City finishes clearly ahead of Toronto. Quebec City turns its rate and occupancy into £30 per available night against £25 in Toronto, a 19.7% edge on the only yield figure that nets the empty nights out. Quebec City's listings run at 62% occupancy against 56% in Toronto, worth 6 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

The two markets reach their revenue by different routes, which is what makes this pairing worth reading rather than just tabulating. Toronto is the rate market: £75 a night against £70, some 7.4% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 56% occupancy. Quebec City is the volume market, filling 62% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £30 in Quebec City against £25. Rate is what you advertise; RevPAR is what you bank.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Toronto is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours Toronto too: occupancy there moved +23.1 points while Quebec City moved +11 points. Toronto is the deeper market at 11,370 active listings against 1,884, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Quebec City nor Toronto currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Quebec City peaks in November at 50.3% and bottoms in April at 26.7%; Toronto runs from 62.7% in September down to 39.2% in January. Both swing by a similar amount across the year, so neither offers meaningfully steadier cash flow than the other.

Who each suits, then. Quebec City suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry and whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. Toronto answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal: it is the market for an owner who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-11, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 581 active Quebec City listings and 4,206 in Toronto.

Frequently asked questions

Is Quebec City or Toronto better for Airbnb investment?

Quebec City, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£30 vs £25), higher occupancy (62% vs 56%), and faster rate growth (+11% vs −3.7% year over year). Toronto is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+23.1 points vs +11 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Quebec City or Toronto?

Quebec City, at 62% median occupancy against 56% in Toronto — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Toronto can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Quebec City gained 11 points and Toronto gained 23.1 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Quebec City or Toronto?

Toronto, at £75 a night against £70 in Quebec City — roughly 7.4% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — Quebec City comes out ahead at £30 against £25, so Quebec City's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Quebec City or Toronto?

Toronto, on occupancy: +23.1 points over the last twelve months against +11 points in Quebec City. Nightly rates rose 11% in Quebec City and fell 3.7% in Toronto over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Quebec City or Toronto?

Toronto, with 11,370 active listings against 1,884 in Quebec City. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Quebec City vs Toronto?

Quebec City earns more: roughly £10,797 a year for a median listing against £9,022 in Toronto. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Quebec City →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Toronto →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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