Intelligent Density: Designing the Future of Family Living

Toronto’s most sought-after neighbourhoods offer many of the features that families look for: strong schools, mature parks, transit infrastructure, proximity to the workplace and a genuine sense of community.

What they often lack is attainable, family-sized housing.

Most apartments and condominiums are designed around studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. At the other end of the market, buying or renting a detached or semi-detached house can be prohibitively expensive. While there may be few suitable options in between, Modcity is actively changing the narrative for the next generation of rental housing.

A Shift from “Shoebox” Housing to Spacious Three-Bedroom Rentals

Toronto has added significant apartment and condominium supply, but relatively little of it has been designed for larger households.

The City of Toronto’s 2024 Development Pipeline shows that three-bedroom-and-larger homes represented only 7.7% of completed units in mid- and high-rise residential projects: 8,370 out of 109,000. Across the broader mid- and high-rise pipeline, which includes projects under review, active and built, 10.0% of units had three or more bedrooms: 72,940 out of 726,635. By comparison, studios and one-bedroom units accounted for 61.4% of that broader pipeline.¹

The existing rental market tells a similar story. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s October 2025 Rental Market Survey, the City of Toronto had ~282,800 purpose-built rental apartments, but only ~26,900 had three or more bedrooms. In other words, just 9.5% of the city’s purpose-built rental market was family-sized.

Modcity is taking a different approach: building spacious, purpose-built three-bedroom rentals designed around how families actually live and work.

When Family-Sized Housing Is Out of Reach

Families are drawn to Toronto’s established neighbourhoods for good reason. These communities offer access to schools, parks, transit, main-street retail and infrastructure that has developed over generations. The challenge is finding a suitable home at an attainable price.

In many of these neighbourhoods, family-sized housing is concentrated in detached and semi-detached homes. Purchasing one typically requires a seven-figure investment and, in some of the city’s most desirable communities, considerably more. In Q4 2025, average sale prices across all housing types were ~$1.9 million in the Annex, ~$1.8 million in Lambton Baby Point and ~$1.3 million in Runnymede-Bloor West Village.

Much of Toronto’s existing low-rise housing stock is dilapidated and was not designed as modern rental accommodation. These homes may provide character and space, but they can also come with dated layouts, limited storage, aging building systems and inconsistent levels of maintenance and energy efficiency.

Families seeking to live in these communities are often left choosing between a compact apartment that does not provide enough livable area or an older house that may be well beyond their budget. Family-sized housing should not require that trade-off.

The Missing Alternative Between an Apartment and a House

Modcity’s fourplexes and sixplexes are designed to fill that gap.

Multiplexes make it possible to create several family-sized homes on a property that would have previously accommodated one household. This brings new rental supply into established low-rise communities at a scale that fits within the surrounding neighbourhood.

The City of Toronto’s Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods initiative (“EHON”), was designed to help address the housing shortage by enabling more homes in these communities.² While much of the market has focused on maximizing buildable area, Modcity is using that additional density to build according to the actual needs of Torontonian’s.

Modcity’s three-bedroom homes are a premium rental alternative for families seeking more space in some of Toronto’s most desirable neighbourhoods. Each home combines the quality and finishes of a newly built residence with a rental price intended to be more attainable than buying or renting an entire house.

Features include:

• Spacious, functional bedrooms and open living areas
• Custom millwork and built-in storage
• Contemporary kitchens with high-quality finishes and appliances included
• Premium flooring, fixtures, materials and building technology
• In-suite laundry and a dedicated mechanical room
• Private or shared outdoor space
• Modern, energy-efficient building systems
• Proximity to leading schools, parks, transit and local amenities

The result is a newly built rental home that offers the space, quality and neighbourhood access traditionally associated with homeownership, without the cost of purchasing a detached or semi-detached house.

Modcity’s homes are designed around those requirements from the outset.

Building Family Housing at Scale

Three-bedroom homes may represent a small part of Toronto’s housing market, but they are the foundation of Modcity’s strategy. With more than 400 three-bedroom purpose-built rental homes in our stabilized portfolio and development pipeline, Modcity has established itself as the leading builder of family-oriented multiplex housing in Toronto.