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

Bottom line

Victoria edges ahead of Toronto on higher occupancy (39.5% vs 30.7%), stronger RevPAR (£51 vs £31).

Head-to-head metrics

	Toronto	Victoria
Median occupancy	30.7%	39.5%
Median daily rate	£114	£144
Median RevPAR	£31	£51
Active listings	12,844	2,666
YoY occupancy	-0.5 pts	-3.2 pts
YoY daily rate	+36.7%	+55.6%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Toronto vs Victoria

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Victoria finishes clearly ahead of Toronto. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 66.5% higher in Victoria: £51 against £31. Victoria's listings run at 39.5% occupancy against 30.7% in Toronto, worth 8.8 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Victoria takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £144 against £114 — and still fills more of the year, 39.5% against 30.7%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £51 against £31.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Toronto is not simply the weaker market of the two. Toronto is the deeper market at 12,844 active listings against 2,666, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. The twelve-month direction favours Toronto too: occupancy there moved −0.5 points while Victoria moved −3.2 points. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Toronto nor Victoria 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. Toronto peaks in September at 63.2% and bottoms in February at 37.8%; Victoria runs from 56.1% in October down to 40% in December. Victoria is the steadier of the two at 16.1 points peak-to-trough against 25.4 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Toronto concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Toronto suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Victoria answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2026-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 12,844 active Toronto listings and 2,666 in Victoria.

Frequently asked questions

Is Toronto or Victoria better for Airbnb investment?

Victoria, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£51 vs £31), higher occupancy (39.5% vs 30.7%), and a higher nightly rate (£144 vs £114). Toronto is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a deeper market (12,844 vs 2,666 active listings).

Which has higher occupancy, Toronto or Victoria?

Victoria, at 39.5% median occupancy against 30.7% in Toronto — a gap of 8.8 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Toronto can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Toronto shed 0.5 points and Victoria shed 3.2 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Toronto or Victoria?

Victoria, at £144 a night against £114 in Toronto — roughly 26.4% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £51 in Victoria against £31, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Toronto or Victoria?

Neither is growing on occupancy — both cooled over the last year. Toronto gave up 0.5 points and Victoria 3.2, so Toronto is the shallower decline rather than the winner. Nightly rates rose 36.7% in Toronto and rose 55.6% in Victoria over the same window.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Toronto or Victoria?

Toronto, with 12,844 active listings against 2,666 in Victoria. 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 Toronto vs Victoria?

Victoria earns more: roughly £18,540 a year for a median listing against £11,131 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 Toronto →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Victoria →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Ready to buy?

Get a full investment report on either city

Property-level financials, stress tests, and an AI verdict — £19 each.

Toronto report →Victoria report →

From the same team

Already hosting? Meet HostPal

An AI concierge that answers your guests on WhatsApp 24/7 — in 50+ languages, from your own guidebook and house rules. Emergencies get escalated to you; the WiFi password doesn't. Live in under 10 minutes.

Try HostPal free for 7 days →