Toronto Housing Data Book

Toronto Residents at a Glance

The city of Toronto enjoys considerable social, cultural and economic success. Along with those successes come significant challenges. Toronto continues to have a higher rate of low-income households than the rest of Canada, Ontario, and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. While the median annual after-tax income in 2020 was higher than 2015, this increase has not kept pace with the rising cost of living and inflation. In addition:

• There are more seniors over the age of 65 than there are children under 15 and seniors are the fastest growing demographic.
• Households are becoming smaller, and the number of children in Toronto is decreasing, likely because of families leaving the city to secure more affordable, family-sized homes.
• A third (33 per cent) of all households are comprised of individuals who live alone; 41 per cent of renter households are comprised of residents living alone.
• An increasing share of households (48 per cent) were renters as of 2021, increasing the demand for rental homes and causing a rise in average market rents.

Housing Challenges for Residents

Toronto’s housing crisis is being driven by several factors, including a lack of affordable and adequate housing options, rising rental and homeownership costs, inflation and incomes that have not kept pace with the cost of living. Addressing these challenges is critical to supporting the social and economic growth and prosperity of the city, province and country.

While the City has made significant financial investments in housing, recent housing indicators suggest that there is still significant work to be done. Recent indicators suggest that low-and-moderate income households, particularly renters and those from equity-deserving groups, continue to be most impacted by the housing crisis. Some of these indicators include:

• One in every five households is facing Core Housing Need*, nearly double the national rate.
• Almost a third of all households are struggling with housing affordability challenges, spending over 30 per cent of their income on housing costs. Renter households are more likely to facing housing affordability challenges than owner-occupied households.
• Of the private renter households in the Toronto census region struggling with housing affordability, more than a quarter were experiencing severe unaffordability, spending more than half of their before-tax income on housing costs.
• There are preventable housing disparities faced by different populations in Toronto, such as low-income households, renters, and racialized populations, who are more likely to struggle with housing need. In 2021:
  • Black and Indigenous populations were disproportionately represented in the population experiencing homelessness.
  • 75 per cent of private renter households in the Toronto census region that struggled with housing affordability had incomes below $60,000.
  • One in five Black Torontonians lived in Core Housing Need, double the rate of non-racialized people.
  • Racialized groups in the Toronto census region, including Black households, faced higher rates of severe housing unaffordability than non-racialized households.

*Core housing need is defined by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as households living in homes that are considered unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable.

Toronto's Evolving Housing Supply

Toronto needs to increase the supply of new homes across the housing continuum in order to meet the needs of current and future residents. Equally as important, is protecting the existing supply of rental homes. Preserving existing affordable and market rental homes helps prevent displacement, supports inclusive complete communities and is generally cheaper than building new housing.

Below is an overview of the type, tenure, size and location of the Toronto’s current and planned/upcoming housing stock along with the non-market housing stock under the City’s administration which supports many low-and moderate-income households across the city.

• Toronto has over 1.25 million homes, with an additional 56,384 homes under construction at the end 2022.
• Homes in Toronto are becoming smaller, which affects the housing options available to existing and future residents, especially families.
• Condominiums represent an increasing share of homes in Toronto (30 per cent of the occupied stock in 2021) but are out of reach for many low-to-middle-income renter households.
• Housing costs have increased significantly in Toronto, with home prices increasing by 29 per cent to $1.14 million between 2019 and 2022 and average market rent for a one-bedroom in purpose-built apartments increasing by 46 per cent between 2013 and 2022.
• The lack of rental housing supply, particularly for larger-sized homes, is driving up the average rent for vacant units. A family looking to move to a purpose-built rental home with three or more bedrooms would have to pay 50 per cent more than what residents are currently paying, with the average rent for a vacant three-bedroom or larger unit at $3,109.
• There are growing discrepancies between income and rents meaning that a household would have to earn more than $88,000 before-tax to afford the average rent for a vacant, purpose-built two-bedroom apartment ($2,205) without spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent. The average 2020 before-tax income for a renter household was $76,000 in the Toronto census region.