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Toronto’s change in COL is high, but the absolute COL just isnt that high compared to other major cities. Your home price doubled in 8 years which is high but n

Toronto’s change in COL is high, but the absolute COL just isnt that high compared to other major cities. Your home price doubled in 8 years which is high but not crazy for a strong housing market. Thats a 9% annual growth rate. On par with the historical SP 500 rate. Also for reference, everone should know 592k CAD is 433k USD and 1.2M CAD is 880 USD. By all means it’s expensive and has changed relatively fast. But Toronto isnt even top 25 for most expensive cities. Most rankings ive seen dont even have it in the top 50. I think people are surprised by this because its changed fast and feels expensive but in reality its cheaper than the major metros in the US, mich of Western Europe, China, Japan, SK. > If it continues for another decade, we can presume no young person today will ever be able to afford a home. In Toronto. Welcome to having a large, growing city. Generally speaking young people dont buy homes in NYC, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, SF, and about 50 other places. Probably 2/3rds of the world population are living in metros like this.

kjkjadksj 3y ago
Part of the issue is wages have lagged behind the market, so hearing that housing merely has followed the market is like a wet blanket when the issue is a lack of wage growth to match asset growth.
kahnclusions 3y ago
It’s not just Toronto, housing prices and overall CoL are soaring all over Canada, and wages are stagnant. The major issue isn’t that the absolute cost of living is high, it’s that the difference between cost of living and wages is increasing too fast. A median wage earner literally can’t save a down payment for a house because the amount they need is too growing too fast. But you’re right that other major world cities even worse... in Taipei where I’m living now, home ownership is simply out of the question for most people unless they have family support to get a mortgage. It’s a global problem.

kjkjadksj 3y ago

Part of the issue is wages have lagged behind the market, so hearing that housing merely has followed the market is like a wet blanket when the issue is a lack of wage growth to match asset growth.

kahnclusions 3y ago

It’s not just Toronto, housing prices and overall CoL are soaring all over Canada, and wages are stagnant. The major issue isn’t that the absolute cost of living is high, it’s that the difference between cost of living and wages is increasing too fast. A median wage earner literally can’t save a down payment for a house because the amount they need is too growing too fast. But you’re right that other major world cities even worse... in Taipei where I’m living now, home ownership is simply out of the question for most people unless they have family support to get a mortgage. It’s a global problem.