Two rooms, two listings, two different units of time. One quotes a weekly figure, the other a monthly one, and neither includes the same things. Comparing them takes about ninety seconds and almost nobody does it, which is how a room that looks cheaper ends up costing more.
The multiplier is 4.33, not 4
A month is not four weeks. A year has fifty-two weeks and twelve months, so the correct conversion is weekly × 52 ÷ 12, which is 4.333 — not 4.
Multiplying by four understates the year by roughly a month of rent. On a room at $220 a week that is several hundred dollars you did not plan for, and it compounds every comparison you make afterwards.
Every monthly figure on this site is calculated that way. The room types page shows both numbers for all six types so you never have to do the arithmetic.
Then check what each price actually contains
Once both listings are in the same unit, put them in the same scope. A weekly figure without utilities is not comparable to one with them.
- Hydro and heat. A Toronto winter in a poorly insulated conversion is not a rounding error.
- Water. Sometimes separate, sometimes not.
- Internet. Opening your own account usually means an installation fee and a two-year term, for a stay that might be eight months.
- Air conditioning. Often absent entirely rather than extra.
Here all four are inside the weekly rate, with a thermostat in each suite and a minimum 1 Gbps line we install and pay for.
Add the one-off costs before you decide
Rent is the number people compare. Move-in is the number that surprises them.
Published here before you apply: $200 processing at application, $150 key deposit at signing which returns with the keys, first month's rent, and last month's rent if you are approved without a guarantor. Ask any other landlord for the same list in writing — if it does not arrive in writing, that is your answer.
A worked comparison
Say one listing is $220 a week including everything, and another is $900 a month plus utilities.
The first is $220 × 52 ÷ 12 = $953 a month, all in. The second looks like $900 — but add hydro, heat, water and internet across a year with a Toronto January in it, and the gap closes or reverses. Then add the furniture the second one may not have.
The point is not that one always wins. It is that the comparison you make in your head, with a multiplier of four and utilities ignored, is not the comparison you are actually choosing between.
