Best Toronto Neighbourhoods for Multiplex Development, Ranked by the Numbers

Nine Toronto wards can legally build a sixplex right now. Every other ward is capped at four units as-of-right: all of Etobicoke, almost all of York, all of North York, and every Scarborough ward but one. That cap holds no matter how the zoning map looks at a glance, and it's the single fact, not curb appeal or a transit score, that separates the multiplex neighbourhoods that pencil in 2026 from the ones that only sound like they do. Score any Toronto street against four numbers: as-of-right unit count, land cost per buildable unit, achievable rent per unit type, and Committee of Adjustment exposure. Run those four and the shortlist gets short fast.

The four numbers that decide whether a multiplex pencils

As-of-right unit count. Since May 2023, Toronto has permitted a multiplex (a residential building with two, three, or four units) as-of-right on most residential lots citywide, in the R, RD, RS, RM, and RT zone categories, with no rezoning or public meeting required if the building meets the standard height, setback, and lot-coverage rules for that zone. On June 25 to 26, 2025, council went further and approved up to six units as-of-right, but only in nine wards: Parkdale-High Park (4), Davenport (9), Spadina-Fort York (10), University-Rosedale (11), Toronto-St. Paul's (12), Toronto Centre (13), Toronto-Danforth (14), Beaches-East York (19), and Scarborough North (23). Everywhere else, a fifth or sixth unit still needs a rezoning application or a council opt-in. A citywide study to extend six-unit permission further is underway, but as of this writing it remains a study, not an adopted rule. Don't buy a lot on the assumption that six units are coming everywhere.

Land cost per buildable unit. This is the number that turns a legal unit count into a return, and it's also the number no public source tracks at the neighbourhood level. Neither TRREB nor the City publishes land price per buildable unit broken out by named neighbourhood; it has to be built from live lot comparables at the time you're underwriting, not pulled from a report. Treat any per-neighbourhood price signal, including the read in the table below, as a starting point to verify against current comps, not a number to buy against.

Two cost lines sit underneath that land price and are worth knowing before you compare offers. Toronto eliminated minimum parking requirements for buildings of up to four units citywide as of February 3, 2022; whether that exemption formally extends to a fifth or sixth unit in the six-unit wards isn't confirmed, so check it lot by lot. On development charges, council's July 24 to 25, 2025 decision fully waived development charges on all units in a project of up to six units, closing an earlier gap where adding a fifth or sixth unit had triggered full charges on all six. Storeys also reported that same council decision extending the waiver to parkland dedication fees; confirm that specific fee against the City's own parkland page before pricing a deal around it. Storeys separately cites historical per-unit development charge rates that had climbed to roughly $52,676 for a one-bedroom and $80,690 for a two-bedroom by mid-2024, one industry estimate, illustrative of what the waiver is worth rather than the live schedule.

Achievable rent per unit type. CMHC's Rental Market Report data tables put the Toronto CMA's average purpose-built apartment rent at approximately $1,917 a month across all unit types. The same year's CMHC release flagged the vacancy rate climbing to roughly 3.0%, the highest since the pandemic, as new purpose-built supply came online and rent growth slowed. That figure is city-wide; CMHC doesn't publish it broken out by named neighbourhood, so a Junction bachelor and a Long Branch two-bedroom both need their own rent check, not a share of the CMA average.

Committee of Adjustment exposure. Since the 2023 reforms, the multi-unit use itself doesn't need a hearing if it's within the as-of-right limit for that ward. What triggers a hearing is a numeric departure from Zoning By-law 569-2013: height, lot coverage, or a setback. The 2026 fee schedule lists $5,011.08 for a residential dwelling application with three units or fewer, $2,228.98 for additions and alterations, and $6,485.59 for other uses; applying after work has started doubles the fee. Tighter, narrower, or oddly shaped lots are the ones most likely to need a variance, which adds both cost and calendar time.

Toronto neighbourhoods ranked for multiplex development today

Neighbourhood	Ward(s)	As-of-right cap	What to watch
East York (spans Wards 14 and 19)	14, 19	Up to 6	Older bungalow lots on wider grids; both wards carry the six-unit permission
Danforth / Riverdale-Leslieville	14	Up to 6	Narrower lots test coverage and setback limits more often
Junction / Corso Italia	4, 9	Up to 6	Watch for blocks adjacent to Heritage Conservation Districts
Toronto Centre (core blocks)	13	Up to 6	Smaller downtown lots are more likely to test coverage and setback limits
University-Rosedale / Spadina-Fort York	11, 10	Up to 6	Heritage-dense streets; confirm HCD status before pricing massing
Scarborough North	23	Up to 6	City pilot analysis found roughly 61% of lots could fit at least a sixplex
Older post-war Scarborough (outside Ward 23)	Other Scarborough wards	Up to 4	Wide lots often price as if six units were legal; they aren't yet
Long Branch / New Toronto	Etobicoke wards	Up to 4	All of Etobicoke sits outside the six-unit wards
Willowdale-adjacent North York streets	North York wards	Up to 4	All of North York sits outside the six-unit wards, despite proximity to the Ward 23 boundary

Where the zoning map and the price map pull apart

Long Branch and New Toronto get pitched as multiplex plays because the lots are wide and the streets are quiet, but all of Etobicoke sits outside the nine wards council approved in June 2025. A lot there still tops out at four units as-of-right; a fifth or sixth unit needs a rezoning application or a future council opt-in, not just a compliant envelope. The same is true of the older post-war grid across most of Scarborough, every ward except Ward 23, and of the Willowdale-adjacent streets in North York. Sellers in all three areas sometimes price land as if a sixplex were already legal. It isn't, and underwriting a fifth or sixth unit that requires a rezoning is a different, slower, less certain deal than underwriting four units that are as-of-right today.

The neighbourhoods still pencilling at four-plus units

The nine wards that cleared six-unit permission in June 2025 are the obvious place to start, but they aren't uniformly priced. East York's older bungalow lots, split across Wards 14 and 19, tend to be wider than the downtown wards and carry less heritage overlay risk, which keeps both land cost and Committee of Adjustment exposure lower relative to the unit count on offer. Danforth and Riverdale-Leslieville carry the same six-unit permission but on narrower lots, which raises the odds of needing a variance for coverage or setback. Scarborough North is the newest entrant. The City's pilot analysis found that roughly 61% of residential lots in the ward, zoned RD, RS, RT, and RM, could fit at least a sixplex under the proposed framework, a meaningfully larger share of buildable stock than most of the other eight wards can claim.

How overlays knock a neighbourhood out even when the zoning says yes

Base zoning capacity is necessary, not sufficient. Three overlays override it regardless of what the unit count says. A Heritage Conservation District (designated under the Ontario Heritage Act) adds a Heritage Permit review for exterior alterations and new construction on top of ordinary zoning and building permit review; that can constrain a multiplex's massing, materials, or timeline even on a lot that zones for six units. Toronto's Tree Protection By-law requires a permit before injuring or removing any privately owned tree 30 centimetres or greater in diameter, regardless of whether the proposed building is otherwise fully compliant; a mature tree in the wrong spot can shrink the buildable footprint. And within designated ravine and natural feature areas, Municipal Code Chapter 658 protects all trees and vegetation and restricts grading, filling, and construction regardless of a tree's size; removal permits are granted only in rare cases, and an approved removal requires paying the tree's full appraised value plus replanting costs. None of these show up on a zoning summary. All three show up on a site visit and an arborist report, and all three are why two lots with identical zoning can have very different real capacity.

A shortlist test to run before you commission a feasibility study

Run any candidate street through this before you spend money on a full study:

1. Confirm the ward and the current as-of-right cap, four or six units, directly against the City's ward list. Don't rely on last year's headline.
2. Pull the zone designation for the specific address and check height, setback, and lot coverage against Zoning By-law 569-2013 Chapter 10 and the Interactive Zoning By-Law Map. Multiplexes follow the same numeric rules as any other residential building in that zone; there's no separate, looser multiplex envelope.
3. Check for a Heritage Conservation District boundary, any private tree at or above 30 centimetres in diameter, and any ravine or natural feature designation before assuming the full envelope is buildable.
4. Price the Committee of Adjustment scenario, not just the base case, against the 2026 fee schedule, and add calendar time to the project if a variance looks likely.
5. Pull a live rent comp and a live lot comp for that specific street. A city-wide CMHC average or a GTA-wide resale average tells you the market's direction, not what your unit mix will rent for or what the lot is actually worth.

Watch two things that could move your ward's cap mid-project: Ontario Regulation 462/24, which took effect November 20, 2024 and created province-wide zoning implications for duplexes and triplexes still under City review, and the pending citywide six-unit study.

Once a neighbourhood clears these four numbers, the remaining questions are project-specific: what a feasibility study on that exact lot shows, what the structure package costs to build, and how the capital stack gets financed. Those are the next pieces to read once you've landed on a street.