{"id":13979,"date":"2017-08-31T01:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?p=13979"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:29:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T20:29:22","slug":"toronto-rentals-vs-hong-kong-a-matter-of-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/toronto-rentals-vs-hong-kong-a-matter-of-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Rentals Vs Hong Kong: A Matter of Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been plenty of discussion recently surrounding Toronto\u2019s hot housing market. First-time buyers are being priced out and young prospective home buyers are being pushed further and further away from the city\u2019s desirable centre. With all this talk, it\u2019s easy to get caught up and lose perspective, but lucky for you, I\u2019m here to remind you to count those blessings (however meagre they may be).<\/p>\n

Sure, the housing situation in cities like Vancouver and Toronto may be less than ideal, and yes, something should be done to improve the way things are going. However, there are far more dire housing situations in other top-tier cities, which, when compared to Toronto, really make everything here seem – dare I say -breezy?<\/p>\n

Related Read: INFOGRAPHIC \u2013 July GTA Sales Plunge 40%<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Taking A Global Rental Perspective<\/h2>\n

Take, for instance, Hong Kong. As those who\u2019ve read my posts on Findependence Hub<\/a> may know, I lived in Hong Kong teaching English. It is one of the most bustling, vibrant cities I\u2019ve ever experienced, but I can only defend it so much once the subject of housing prices comes up. Year after year, Hong Kong tops all the lists of \u2018most expensive housing,\u2019 and having rented there for a year, I have to concede defeat on that point. For what you get in Hong Kong, there is much to be desired.<\/p>\n

\"Hong
Chevron’s Hong Kong apartment was tight on square footage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re like most millennials and looking to break into the housing market for the first time \u2013 perhaps in a Toronto condo<\/a> – you\u2019ve most likely experienced the disillusionment that inevitably comes when you realize the prices you\u2019re looking at paying, even after this summer\u2019s price correction. In the city of Toronto, the average price per square foot, or PPSF, is around $649 with an average home cost of around $550,000. This number spikes to $800 PSF if you\u2019re looking to put down roots in \u2018downtown Toronto\u2019 (anywhere south of Bloor, west of Yonge, east of Bathurst).<\/p>\n

Related Read: 5 Ways to Get Ahead in the Toronto Rental Market<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s compare those prices to what you’d get in Hong Kong for the same amount of money. The average PPSF to purchase an apartment in Hong Kong\u2019s city centre is $3,075 CAD. Keeping in mind average monthly salaries are within $100 CAD of each other, this difference is astounding. I knew the prices in Hong Kong were exorbitant, but I had no idea how crazy until doing the research for this article.<\/p>\n

Comparing the Markets<\/h2>\n

To make things a bit more fun, I decided to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes: real estate shopping. I took the average Toronto home price and used Zoocasa\u2019s listings page to see what I could find. I found a beautiful brand new one + bedroom, one-bathroom unit with a large balcony, and lots of natural light for $509,000. At between 600 and 700 square feet, this put me at $783 PSF. A bit under the average\u2014 so, score.<\/p>\n

Next, I went to my favourite Hong Kong real estate listing website, spacious.hk, and looked around for a suitable candidate. For a similarly updated 567 square foot, centrally located two-bedroom, one-bath unit with a parking space (no balcony) in a 25-year-old building, I\u2019m looking at paying more than double the price of the Toronto option at CAD $1.8M.<\/p>\n

Toronto Space Less at a Premium<\/h2>\n

When I came back from Hong Kong I remember thinking just how much space we all have here. Canada is the second largest country by land mass in the world, and it’s interesting to see how we use that space compared to other places\u2014 in this instance, Hong Kong, where space is arguably their most valuable resource.<\/p>\n

This trial has taught me that though we often complain about our housing being unaffordable, it\u2019s all relative. Toronto is expensive relative to the province of Ontario and much of the rest of Canada but not prohibitively so.<\/p>\n

Roughly one in three (35 per cent) of Torontonians spend at least 30 per cent\u00a0of their income on housing, which is the cutoff for housing to be considered affordable, according to CIW.ca<\/a><\/u>. But that also means two thirds of Torontonians are spending less than 30% of before-tax household income on housing. It could be worse, as any Hong Kong native could verify. Once you take a global perspective, you realize how lucky we really are to call the Great White North \u2018home.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been plenty of discussion recently surrounding Toronto\u2019s hot housing market. First-time buyers are being priced out and young prospective home buyers are being pushed further and further away from the city\u2019s desirable centre. With all this talk, it\u2019s easy to get caught up and lose perspective, but lucky for you, I\u2019m here to remind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":13981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying-a-home","category-toronto-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"\nToronto Rentals Vs Hong Kong: A Matter of Perspective | Zoocasa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Toronto rentals vs Hong Kong - 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