A new global index suggests Toronto is among the world’s worst cities when it comes to housing affordability — as experts blame decades of policy missteps, development delays, and overwhelming population demand for the problem.
The 2025 Global Cities Index from Oxford Economics finds that as a result of Toronto’s expensive real estate market, residents “spend more of their income on housing than residents of nearly every other city in the world.”
While the federal government recently promised to eliminate the GST on first-time home purchases under $1 million, critics argue that restrictive housing policies, costly development charges and sluggish approvals have created a market that’s out of reach for most buyers.
