Canada NewsNews

Posthaste: Blame Toronto for driving housing prices up 178% in this city

Posthaste: Blame Toronto for driving housing prices up 178% in this city

Lack of affordability spreads housing pain further afield

Article content

For a change, Toronto and Vancouver aren’t the worst culprits when it comes to housing price increases over the last decade, a new survey has found.

Article content

The survey, by online search and real estate brokerage company Zoocasa, tracked price changes in 19 Canadian cities from 2013 to 2023 and found the largest increases were recorded outside Canada’s major urban centres in smaller cities mostly in Ontario’s highly populated golden horseshoe region in the southwestern part of the province.

Advertisement 2

Story continues below

Article content

During that 10-year period, the crown for the largest increase on the list of cities went to London-St. Thomas, Ont. where prices jumped 178 per cent from $221,800 to $616,700, for a benchmark single family home — a nearly $400,000 increase. Second on the list was the nearby Niagara Region. Prices there rose 174 per cent from $229,800 to $629,700.

While Toronto wasn’t among the top five, the city likely influenced the list’s ranking, Zoocasa said, as house hunters were driven out of the area by a crushing lack of affordability.

“Some of this price growth was likely driven by priced-out GTA buyers moving into comparably more affordable markets, including London & St. Thomas, Niagara Region, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph & district, which all experienced rapid price growth in the past decade,” Zoocasa said in press release.

Among the remaining top five cities, all within a two-hour drive from the Greater Toronto Area, were Kitchener-Waterloo at number three, where prices rose 159 per cent from $307,900 to $798,100. Guelph and district, where prices increased 137 per cent from $376,100 to $892,800, ranked fourth while fifth was Hamilton-Burlington, where prices rose 130 per cent from $373,800 to $861,100.

Article content

Advertisement 3

Story continues below

Article content

In Toronto, which ranked seventh on the list, prices increased 116.6 per cent from $587,800 to $1,273,300. Vancouver placed 12th, with an increase of 84.5 per cent from $1,064,500 to $1,964,400.

Zoocasa blamed decades-low interest rates for catapulting home prices in Toronto and Vancouver well into six-figure territory.

“During the early pandemic, low interest rates catalyzed a surge in the real estate market, pushing GTA single-family home prices above $1,000,000 for the first time,” Zoocasa said.

Looking across the country, national benchmark prices rose 86.6 per cent from $417,100 to $779,100.

While most of these prices are sobering, there still remain pockets where prices are more palatable with increases under 20 per cent, Zoocasa found.

For example, prices in Regina rose a modest 6.3 per cent or $18,800 during the decade, while Edmonton experienced an increase of 13.4 per cent — $49,900 — from $372,500 to $422,400.

St. John’s and Saskatoon recorded the next smallest increases of 16 per cent and 19.2 per cent, respectively.

Benchmark prices came from the Canadian Real Estate Association in December of each year analyzed.

Advertisement 4

Story continues below

Article content

Zoo casa housing chart

 Sign up here to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.


China stock market chart

China’s authorities are stepping up efforts to stabilize the stock market after a massive selloff. The collapse in valuations since a peak in 2021 makes them the world’s “best value proposition,” according to at least one market veteran. Others remain unconvinced, saying the economy faces some tough challenges that will keep hampering stocks. So, is this a golden moment or a value trap? Find out more in this story from Bloomberg.


  • The United States Federal Reserve will release its latest interest rate decision, followed by a press conference with chair Jerome Powell
  • The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will release its annual rental market report at 10 a.m. ET
  • Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Ontario Premier Doug Ford will make an announcement regarding a federal investment to prevent crime and combat auto theft in Ontario
  • Today’s data: Canadian GDP for November; U.S. ADP national employment report, employment cost index, Chicago PMI
  • Earnings: Boeing Co., MasterCard Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Nasdaq Inc., CGI Inc.

Advertisement 5

Story continues below

Article content

Get all of today’s top breaking stories as they happen with the Financial Post’s live news blog, highlighting the business headlines you need to know at a glance.


markets
Financial Post

Recommended from Editorial

  1. A 'sold' sign is shown in front of a row of houses in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Belvedere, 2023.

    Housing prices rose the most in these 5 spots

  2. Leon's Furniture Ltd. announced Monday that it received rezoning approval for a community that includes 4,000 residential units in Toronto.

    Leon’s Furniture plans to build 4,000 homes in Toronto


Not everyone can take on extra shifts at work, change departments or companies to get a raise, or find a second job to raise some cash. If you’ve already scaled back your budget as much as you can, debt counsellor Sandra Fry says it might be worth considering a side hustle.

***

Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you wondering how to make ends meet? Drop us a line at [email protected] with your contact info and the general gist of your problem and we’ll try to find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we’ll keep your name out of it, of course). If you have a simpler question, the crack team at FP Answers led by Julie Cazzin or one of our columnists can give it a shot.


Today’s Posthaste was written by Gigi Suhanic, with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.

Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at [email protected].


Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content

Comments

Join the Conversation

This Week in Flyers

View Article Origin Here

Related Articles

Back to top button