What will your basement apartment earn?
In the Toronto area a one bedroom apartment averaged $1,761 a month in October 2025 and a two bedroom $2,046, by CMHC's count. A legal suite built from our quote sheet costs $75,000 to $110,000. Pick the city, the size and the bedrooms below; the panel shows the rent range for your area and how many years the suite takes to pay for itself.
Set the suite.
We do the arithmetic.
Rents are CMHC survey averages for your area, October 2025. The build cost starts inside our legal suite range and moves with the size; your itemized quote replaces it.
A legal basement apartment runs $75,000 to $110,000 or more from our quote sheet: the standard finished basement plus fire separation, egress, a kitchen and its rough-ins, each as its own line. What makes a suite legal.
Before income tax, insurance, vacancy and upkeep. Rents: CMHC Rental Market Survey, October 2025, Toronto CMA, purpose built apartment average for the zone and rental condominium average for the area. Source tables.
Where the rent numbers come from
CMHC surveys purpose built rental apartments every October and publishes average rents by zone. The low end of the range is that average for your zone. The high end is CMHC's average for rented condominium apartments in the same part of the region, which tends to sit above purpose built stock. A basement suite usually rents at or below the low end, which is why the rent slider starts there and lets you drag down.
Source: CMHC, 2025 Rental Market Report, Toronto data tables 1.1.2 and 4.1.2, October 2025 survey, accessed October 10, 2026.
| Area, purpose built apartments | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3+ bed |
|---|
The rent only counts if the suite is legal
An unregistered basement apartment earns the same rent until the day an inspector, an insurer or a tenant's lawyer asks for the permit. Ontario's Building Code sets the floor: 1.95 m of ceiling height over the required floor area, a 30 minute fire separation between the units (15 minutes with interconnected smoke alarms through the whole house), a basement egress window with at least 0.38 square metres of unobstructed opening, and a building permit for the work.
Desire builds the suite to that code from the start, with permit drawings prepared and stamped by a licensed structural engineer, in about three months with a written completion date. Read the Ontario legal basement requirements in full, and the rental income post for how the four year payback was worked out.
A $95,000 suite at $2,000 a month pays back in about four years. After that it is income.
Desire Basements, since 2017About the numbers.
How much does a basement apartment earn in the GTA?
By CMHC's October 2025 survey, a one bedroom purpose built apartment in the Toronto area averaged $1,761 a month, a two bedroom $2,046 and a three bedroom $2,317. A basement suite usually rents at or a little below those averages for its zone, and rented condominiums above them; the calculator shows both ends for your city.
How fast does a legal basement suite pay for itself?
Divide the build cost by a year of rent. A $95,000 suite at $2,000 a month pays back in about four years, before tax, insurance, vacancy and upkeep. The calculator does the same arithmetic for your city and bedroom count.
Why does the build cost run $75,000 to $110,000?
A legal suite is a standard finished basement plus the code items: fire separation, an egress window or separate entrance, a kitchen and its rough-ins. Each is a line on the quote. The calculator starts the cost inside that range according to the suite size; your itemized quote, within 24 to 48 hours of the site visit, replaces it with the real number.
Where do the rent figures come from?
The CMHC Rental Market Survey for the Toronto census metropolitan area, October 2025. The low figure is the average rent for purpose built apartments in your zone; the high figure is the average for rented condominium apartments in the same area. Both are published in CMHC's 2025 Rental Market Report data tables.
Does the calculator include mortgage costs or taxes?
No. It is a simple payback: build cost divided by annual rent. Financing, income tax, insurance, vacancy and maintenance all change the real return, and a mortgage broker or accountant should run those with your numbers.
Now price
the real suite.
A free estimate at your home, a 3D design of the suite, and an itemized quote within 24 to 48 hours with the completion date written on it.