It’s no wonder why many people are now relocating to Toronto. And if you’re in this pool of new Torontonians, then this article is perfect to understanding the city and making sure you fit right in. This post details how to get around Toronto and notes the cost of buying and renting a home,  the neighbourhoods and the surrounding suburbs, and a few resources to find out what’s happening in the city.

Getting around

While traffic in Toronto isn’t as bad as Los Angeles or New York City, it’s still not a great place to drive or commute. A study last year concluded that Toronto was the sixth worst city for commuting. However, there are plenty of ways to get through the city, whether that’s public transit, a personal car, or through taxis and ridesharing.

Public Transit

Toronto’s main transit system is called the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). This includes all subways, streetcars, and busses in Toronto. Once you buy a ticket ($3.25 CDN), you can transfer from one system to another without any additional fees (however, there are additional costs for transferring onto transit systems outside of the TTC).

It’s recommended that you buy a PRESTO card, TTC’s metrocard, as soon as possible. A PRESTO card is not only more convenient than cash, but reduces your ticket fees to $3.10 and provides an unlimited, two-hour transfer. You can also use PRESTO with many of the transit systems of the surrounding suburbs.

While Toronto doesn’t have an extensive subway system like many large American cities do, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get around. The subway system is still able to reach the far corners of the city and even to parts of the surrounding suburbs. Where the subway can’t reach, a streetcar or bus will.

Driving, Ridesharing, and Taxis

For those who don’t like public transit or who have unfortunately inconvenient commutes which would take hours by bus or subway, driving may be the best option. Within the Downtown Core, most parking is going to cost you, and most of Midtown and North York will be the same. So make sure to account for parking fees in your budget. It’s also important to familiarize yourself with Toronto’s main freeways such as the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner Express, and the 401 Expressway.

Can’t drive or don’t own a car and don’t want to bother with the TTC? There’s a solution for that too. Unlike Vancouver, Uber and Lyft are available in full in Toronto. Both apps use the original, non-subscription-based model, so you can use the apps on a per-ride basis. If you’re from a city that doesn’t allow for ridesharing, make sure to look out for promotional codes, which can provide a fair amount of cash credit. Of course, taxis are also available in Toronto. It’s best to call beforehand than to hail one off the street though.

Home and Rent Prices

Because Toronto is such a hotspot for commerce and tech, it’s no doubt that the real estate is expensive. Housing costs aren’t as hectic as San Francisco or New York City, but a 2019 CRBE report listed Toronto as the 12th most expensive housing market in the world. This still only puts Toronto as the second most expensive housing market in Canada, as Vancouver was awarded 4th place on the list.

The Toronto Real Estate Board provides a monthly market watch newsletter to analyze monthly sales trends and average price. In the most recent May 2019 edition, the average home in Toronto sold for $937, 804 CDN. This includes all types of homes such as detached, semis, townhouses and condo apartments. More specifically, detached homes averaged a selling price of $1,384,993 CDN and condo apartments averaged $642,891 CDN.

Renting is just as bad in Toronto. And despite CRBE listing Vancouver as the most expensive housing market in Canada, Padmapper, found that in May 2019, Toronto had the most expensive apartment rental market in the country. A one-bedroom apartment in May averaged a monthly rent of $2,250 CDN while a two-bedroom apartment averaged $2,850 CDN. These numbers aren’t much of a change from the month prior, but are an 8.2% and 7.5% increase year-over-year respectively.

So if you’re planning to either buy or rent in Toronto, be prepared for some crazy expensive real estate, especially if you’re not from a city that’s used to such high rent and home prices.

Toronto Neighbourhoods and the Greater Toronto Area

Toronto has many neighbourhoods which are grouped into districts. These districts, which include Old Toronto, East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York, are pretty much cities of their own. Commonly, when people mention Toronto, they refer to Old Toronto, which includes the Downtown Core and surrounding areas.

Each district has its own culture, sights, and diversity. Housing prices and public transportation also vary. For example, much of Scarborough isn’t subway accessible! For more details on Toronto neighbourhoods, check out our list of the Top 10 Neighbourhoods in Toronto for Families with Children. 

The Greater-Toronto Area (GTA) includes many of the municipalities right outside of Toronto, including the York, Peel, Halton, and Durham regions. Each region has many municipal cities. Among them is Mississauga, which is actually the 6th largest city in Canada! For those who don’t want the crowded spaces of the main city or who are willing to live further from Toronto in exchange for a cheaper cost of living, then the GTA is the way to go.

Resources for Nearby Events and Local News

The city has no shortage of news to report on and newspapers to report it. Two of the largest newspapers are the Globe and Mail and the Star. These two newspapers run both online and in print. However, they limit the number of viewable articles per month on their website, unless you pay a monthly subscription fee. Both are great sources for traditional news about Toronto. 

Great ways to find the hottest restaurants or what’s happening this weekend are the newer, online-only newspapers like BlogTO. If you’re relocating from Vancouver, DailyHive will be a familiar face that’s also reporting on everything Toronto. For the Montreal kids on the block used to MTL Blog, Toronto also has Narcity.

So welcome to Toronto. The city has much to offer to new residents and there’s plenty to do. Like any city, it has its pros and cons, but it’s a great place to call home.

The post How to Relocate to Toronto first appeared on RankMyAgent - Trusted resource about Buying, Selling and Renting.

There’s no doubt that Vancouver and Toronto come in first and second for the highest cost of living in Canada—with the largest factor due to the price of real estate. If you want to buy a home in one of these two cities, it’s a far-from-easy task, especially if you need to simultaneously keep up with Vancouver/Toronto rent and expenses.

So if you want to save for a downpayment on a home in either of these cities, what kind of salary do you need? And what if you also pay rent and want an average city lifestyle?

To answer this, let’s first break down the price of Vancouver and Toronto real estate.

According to data put out by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) and the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), sales over the past year in Metro Vancouver and Toronto have declined significantly (-35.1% in Vancouver May 2018 and -22.2% in Toronto May 2018). But while the average price for Toronto homes declined by 6.6% due to the lower demand, Vancouver prices rose 11.5%.

“With fewer homes selling today compared to recent years, the number of homes available for sale is rising,” Phil Moore, REBGV president said. “The selection of homes for sale in Metro Vancouver has risen to the highest levels we’ve seen in the last two years, yet supply is still below our long-term historical averages.”[1]

Though the real estate markets for both cities are cooling off, prices remain unreachable for many hoping to purchase in these areas.

The average price of homes in Metro Vancouver and in Toronto in the month of May 2018 are listed below

Conventional mortgages usually require a 20% downpayment. For even the cheapest option on the above table (Toronto apartment), it means $120,560 for only the downpayment.

If you want to move to one of these cities to start a family in a detached home, it costs well over a million dollars. A 20% downpayment for an average Vancouver detached is around $321,600 and for an average Toronto detached is around $285,218.

To save $300,000 for an only the downpayment on a house is no easy task. Even $120,000 for a Toronto apartment is highly daunting.

Now that you know what you need to save for the down, let’s look at some common city-lifestyle expenses.

Because real estate prices aren’t cheap, rent isn’t either. According to Pad Mapper, which analyzes thousands of rental listings, the average price for a single-room apartment in Vancouver is $2090/month and for a two-bedroom apartment is $1625/month (suggesting you have a roommate to split the costs). Toronto prices aren’t much better with a solo lifestyle costing $2070/month and living with a roommate costing $1365/month.

Modern-day necessities like a cell phone and home internet each cost around $60/month, while a monthly transit pass costs $95 in Vancouver and $146.25 in Toronto. And if you’re like most city dwellers, $40 for Ubers and taxis every month can come in handy. Lastly, around $300 for groceries every month is necessary for the days and nights you aren’t eating out. Your monthly necessity expenses should approximate $525 if you’re in Vancouver or $606.25 if you’re in Toronto.

What about the unessentials? If you buy two lunches a week (at $15/lunch) and dine out for dinner twice a week (at approximately $25/dinner before drinks), that’s already $320 a month. And then budget in three $3 coffees a week and that’s another $36/month. Finally, $250/month for drinks and entertainment and $150/month for extras (maybe for a trip to the salon or for a new pair of loafers?) is a fair estimate. Your monthly total for non-essentials should approximate $756/month, regardless of the city.

The last item on the list is a gym membership. If the condo gym isn’t cutting it for you or if you want a few specialty classes like cycling or kickboxing, it’s not going to come cheap. The standard gym membership is $60/month. This covers both classes and a wider range of equipment.

If you tally up the expenses, living in either city in your own apartment costs almost $3500/month! Living with one roommate costs slightly under $3000 in Vancouver and approximately $2750 in Toronto. This doesn’t include yearly expenses like vacations or Christmas shopping. Additionally, if you have a car or outstanding debts, that’s a whole new budget.

Conclusion

In this scenario, the plan is to go from nothing to a downpayment in five years. This is how much you would need to save for the following,

• Vancouver Detached: $5,360.00
• Toronto Detached: $4,753.65
• Vancouver Apartment: $2,339.00
• Toronto Apartment: $2,009.35

Adding in monthly expenses, buying a Vancouver detached while living alone or with a roommate, or buying a Toronto detached while living alone requires a net annual income of around $99,000-$106,000. After factoring taxes, this approximates $147,000-$160,000 of annual gross income a year. Saving for a Toronto detached while living with a roommate is a bit better at a net annual income requirement of around $90,000 or at a gross annual income $135,000.

To afford a Vancouver apartment while living alone or with a roommate, or to afford a Toronto apartment while living alone requires an annual net income of $64,000-$70,000 or an annual gross income of $86,000-$96,000. And to afford a Toronto apartment while living with a roommate requires an annual net income of around $57,000 or an annual gross income of $79,000.

However, five years is a long time and prices can rise or fall drastically.

Other things to consider

Vancouver and Toronto are two very different cities and the price of property is only one of many characteristics of each city. Vancouver provides milder weather; there’s less extreme hots and colds like in Toronto. Vancouver is also great for the outdoorsy people, with Stanley park only steps away from the city’s core. In contrast, people cite Toronto for better and higher paying career opportunities. The city is also better known for its restaurants, bars, and nightlife in comparison to its west-coast counterpart.

[1] https://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/files/REBGV-Stats-Pkg-May-2018.pdf

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