Residential real estate in the gta is not as good as I would like. I've been considering it for years but when Covid hit I did more detailed the research. I concluded that up front costs are high and returns from rental are not great. It could be better if you make improvements and increase rental fees. I think the majority of your returns will come when you re-sell the property. If you are considering duplex /triplex houses or multi-unit, you could look at a BRRR strategy. Most people doing BRRR are doing it in areas outside the gta (Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Guelph, Barrie, Peterborough,...)
In today's market rental rates are dropping. It may take you some time to break even. AirBNB is an option and I think has a future depending on location. Anything outside of the downtown core will get less traffic because of competing AirBNB locations.
You can make money if you are willing to put in the work but for me it's not worth the headache. I'd rather not deal with the headache of being a landlord or an AirBNB host. I've heard a lot of horror stories about bad tenants and people getting sued. I'd rather invest the capital in stock trading. If you know what your doing 40% in a year is easy takes less than an hour a day.
On the other hand, Toronto real estate seems to have survived the pandemic pretty well and continues to go up regardless so what do I know?
Last thing....I'm surprised at what people are considering livable condos these days. Some of these units are 400 square feet without a separate bedroom!