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Toronto ranks more costly

Toronto now the second most expensive city in North America to live in and 54th internationally.

Toronto has once again proven itself one of the most expensive North American cities to live in, sitting now just behind New York for tops in the continent, a noted report reveals. The annual U.K.-based Mercer's cost of living survey -- which looks at how expensive it is for a company to relocate employees -- shows that Toronto leap-frogged Los Angeles and Miami since last year.

Moscow retained its position as the most expensive city for corporations world-wide, with Tokyo, London, Oslo and Seoul rounding out the top five.

New York was the only North American city in the top 50, at 22nd overall.

Toronto, which jumped 28 spots from last year to 54th overall, is the most expensive Canadian city for newcomers to live in, but not the only one shooting up Mercer's list.

Vancouver went from 89th in 2007 to 64th this year, Calgary from 92nd to 66th and Montreal from 98th to 72nd.

American cities like L.A. (42nd to 55th) and Washington D.C. (85th to 107th) are in a free fall.

July 28, 2008 | Permalink

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Comments

I am curious how they calculate the index, so that Toronto would be 2nd when Vancouver is 64th and Calgary is 66th. Aren't housing prices higher in Vancouver and Calgary than in Toronto? One would think that housing would make up the largest part of cost of living.

Posted by: Michael | Aug 12, 2008 9:41:41 AM

Hi. Can the writer of this blog please send me an email? Thanks.

Posted by: Andrew | Jul 30, 2008 9:35:30 AM

Supply is high in GTA,
Demand is low,
No more 40 year mortgages
Fewer jobs
Higher mortgage rates from october/08

Currently in BC and Alberta many Sellers are accepting offers 10% - 15% lower than the asking price, but in GTA still most of
Sellers expecting asking price or even higher? And remember that avg. income in GTA is lower than Alberta and BC.
Anyway the prices of houses in GTA still going up.
I don’t know why?

My Real Estate prediction for July 2008:
Sales volume in GTA will be down between
17% and 21%.

Please open the links bellow:

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=688325

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/07/28/realstate.html

Posted by: Mike | Jul 30, 2008 2:02:18 AM

This is a stupid article. The only reason Toronto/Vancouver, etc. have inched up the list is the strength of the Canadian Dollar. Mercer uses the US dollar as its standard, therefore, US cities will drop while other cities will rise. Completely useless comparison.

Posted by: | Jul 29, 2008 7:25:36 PM

No wonder. But imagine how hard it was to live in a year ago, when the RE prices were so high. Now when they are falling, or at least not rising so rapidly, it might just change a bit. Companies surely had trouble with relocating employees, finding an affordable home for them and even with that, making them live there at such high costs. Perhaps in a month or two, New York wil be first. Who knows.
Elli

Posted by: Toronto real estate agent | Jul 28, 2008 12:18:06 PM

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