Toronto had the highest rate of unaffordable housing in Canada in 2021

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Toronto had the highest rate of unaffordable housing in Canada last year.

According to newly released data from Statistics Canada, the city had a rate of 30.5% in 2021, the highest of any census metropolitan area (CMA) in the country.

Toronto’s high rate of unaffordable housing propelled Ontario’s rate to 24.2%, the second-highest on a provincial level. British Columbia had the highest rate, at 25.5%.

Across Canada, the rates of unaffordable housing were highest in the downtown core of major cities. In 2021, the average rent for a two-bedroom dwelling in downtown Toronto was 32.2% higher than in the CMA as a whole, a trend that was present in Montreal (69.9%) and Vancouver (50.1%) as well.

Amongst both owners and renters, those that live downtown were most likely to spend more than 30% of their income on shelter costs, StatCan said.

In downtown Toronto, 45.2% of renters lived in unaffordable housing in 2021, as did 50.4% of renters in downtown Kingston, 50.0% of renters in downtown Barrie, and 47.2% of renters in downtown Peterborough.

At 36.2%, homeowners in downtown Toronto had the highest rate of unaffordable housing in Canada last year.

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According to StatCan, nearly 1,500,000 Canadian households lived in “core housing need” in 2021, which entails living in an unsuitable, inadequate, or unaffordable dwelling and not being able to afford alternative housing in the community.

Across Canada’s CMAs, renters were more likely to be in core housing needs than owners. In Toronto, 28.7% of renters were in core housing need in 2021, as were 9.6% of owners.