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As financial LLs have become the largest acquirers of suites in Toronto (they bought 85% and 91% of suites sold in 2019 and 2020), we need to rein in on financialized practices, bc the more they own, the worse affordability will get.

These rent increase strategies are also more intense in low-income & racialized TO neighbourhoods. Nbhds with high rent premiums are often low-income & high % of visible minority population.

We found that financial LLs charge the highest rent increases btwn quarters, with 5% or $96 increases. Financial LLs target affordable buildings (w/ the most *runway* for rent increases) & capitalize on the rent gap.

Financial LLs also claim to charge higher rents. Conundrum Capital identified rent increases upon turnover as "the only driver of cash flow increases". Starlight said they are "uniquely positioned" to extract maximum growth from apts, with "active mgmt" & "value add" strategies.

We use quarterly rent data from 2022 to 2024 (by unit size and building class) and find that financial LLs charge 44% more compared to the avg CMHC neighbourhood rents, much higher than the runner-up, chains, with 30%.

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