Just outside the Torontonian bubble of condos and apartments lies a wasteland of urban sprawl that’s been manufactured into an expensive challenge by the greed of land developers.
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) began as outer-Toronto suburbs for the middle class but was eventually redeveloped to avoid overcrowding as the population continued to grow. Outside of the city, people could buy “starter homes” that were typically the first step of financial stability. It’s been 79 years since the initial popularity of starter homes, and they’ve been traded for mass-produced monstrosities the middle class can’t afford.
The current state of the Canadian housing market is dire; the average Canadian home used to cost $241,000 in 2005, compared to $719,000 in 2024, and the current average home price in the GTA is more than $1,100,000. The GTA is an attractive location for post-grad living, with transit convenience and diverse career opportunities for young professionals. This harbours an environment that encourages young people and post-grads to have families and settle long-term. Unfortunately, no young professional or family can afford these prices and are forced to move somewhere else. The lack of affordability is draining Toronto’s workforce and impacting the market even more.
Much of the market issue rests with development: a labour shortage of construction workers, a fifth of whom are set to retire within ten years, the inability to match development speed with demand, and rising supply costs. Starter homes are needed more than ever—an escape out of the rental market, easing prices as demand is met, and fewer supplies are needed to build multiple homes.
However, most GTA detached single-family homes built from 2015 and on are more than 2,000 square feet, featuring four to five bedrooms, an equivalent amount of washrooms, and fit in a strict price range of $900,000 to more than $2,000,000. The average GTA household income before taxes ranges from $95,000 to over $150,000. That income is roughly 10 per cent of the house’s price. More expensive houses mean more demand for affordable houses, increasing prices everywhere. Land developers, however, benefit greatly from this affordability crisis; expensive houses mean more money in their pockets.
The market has changed to favour the developer’s profit over the customer’s affordability, and not without help. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been unable to avoid scandals when it comes to working with land developers. In August of 2022, Ford’s daughter hosted a “stag and doe” party that had multiple unnamed developers in attendance. Mere months later, in November, Ford’s government announced that they would be removing 2,994 hectares of Greenbelt land— which protects nature across Ontario—in order to build 50,000 homes.
It was later revealed that several developer attendees of the Ford wedding received Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs), a document that overrides municipal zoning laws, allowing external land use and development. Ford was eventually cleared by the RCMP; however, his interest in working with land developers remains abundantly clear. He can pretend to care about the housing market, but it’s no coincidence that his family is becoming increasingly involved with rich developers who are only getting richer. The greed of Ford and his developer peers is draining Toronto and the GTA of its future by flushing Gen Zers and Millennials out of the market.
Many think of the GTA as the heart of Ontario; it supplies Toronto with a workforce without overcrowding and holds almost half of the province’s population. Meanwhile, the province continues to fail the GTA with housing prices manufactured to profit developers and sustain the generational wealth division, pushing recent youth and young families out of the market.
Madeleine is a 4th-year Film and English student and one of The Journal’s Copy Editors.
Tags
GTA, housing, Property development, Starter homes
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