Toronto Property Taxes

Residents of the City of Toronto are expected to pay property taxes on all residences that they own. Property taxes can usually be found on each active Zoocasa listing, or can be looked up here. As of 2017, the estimated property tax residents can expect to pay is 0.66% per year. To see where your property tax payments go see below for an example, assuming a property price of $587,471.

Toronto Land Transfer Tax

When purchasing a property in Toronto you’ll have to pay both Provincial Land Transfer Tax as well as Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax, which are both due upon closing. If you’re a first-time home buyer, you’re eligible for a rebate on both the provincial and municipal taxes – a maximum of $4,000 for provincial and $4,475 for municipal. See below for provincial and Toronto municipal land transfer tax rates.

Example calculation for total land transfer tax, assuming a $600,000 purchase price.

Toronto Real Estate Board

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) was founded in 1920 and has over 43,000 licensed real estate brokers across the Greater Toronto Area. TREB covers the GTA as well as surrounding areas including Ajax, Aurora, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Halton Hills, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Toronto, Vaughan, and Whitby.

TREB is currently being sued by the Competition Bureau for restricting public access to property sold price data. As of Dec 2017, TREB had lost its course case, but have decided to take the decision to the supreme court.

Toronto City Guide

Toronto is the capital city of Ontario and is the largest city in Canada with over 6 million people currently living in the city. Toronto is a centre of business, arts, culture and is recognized as one of the most multicultural cosmopolitan cities in the world. The current mayor of Toronto is John Tory and has been in office since 2015. Toronto is also home to the University of Toronto, one of the most prestigious research universities in Canada. In 2017, The Economist’s Safe City Index ranked Toronto 4th safest city in the world and ranked 2nd in Canada in Mercer’s 2017 quality of living ranking.

Demographics

Home to a population of 6.418 million, Toronto is one of the most multicultural and multiracial cities in the world. In the most recent Canadian Census in 2016, 51.5% of Toronto’s population belonged to a visible minority group. The city celebrates multiculturalism and has established ethnic neighbourhoods such as Chinatown, Little Italy, Little India, Greektown, Koreatown, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal, and Roncesvalles. The population in the city is relatively young with 68% of residents between the ages of 15 to 64 years old.

Schools

The Toronto District School board is Canada’s largest school board, governing 451 elementary schools, 110 secondary schools in the city.

Parks

There are over a hundred parks across the city. Some popular and notable parks include: High Park, Riverdale Park, and Toronto Islands. High Park, located on the west side of the city, is one of the city’s largest parks and it’s a favourite among many locals during the springtime for cherry blossoms. Riverdale park is an athletic park with facilities like baseball diamonds, soccer fields, tennis courts, running track, ice rink and a pool. Toronto Islands is the island park south of downtown and can be accessed by ferry. The island is home to the Toronto City Airport and boast a spectacular view of the Toronto skyline.

Landmarks

The most iconic landmark in Toronto is the CN Tower which stands at 553M and was the tallest free-standing structure in the world for over three decades. From the top observation floor, many can catch a glimpse of Niagara Falls across Lake Ontario. Another landmark that sits just beside the CN Tower is the Rogers Centre (Formerly known as the SkyDome), the home of the Toronto MapleLeafs.

Retail & Dining

Toronto has three major shopping malls located in Downtown, Etobicoke and North York. Eaton Centre is located at the heart of downtown on Yonge and Dundas street. Yonge and Dundas is the busiest intersection in Toronto and has a variety of dinning and shopping options nearby. Just west of downtown is Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke. Near Sherway Gardens, you can find big box retailers like Walmart, Costco and Best Buy. Located north of Toronto between the 401 and Allen road, Yorkdale mall offers high end luxury brands. Other popular areas for shopping include Queen’s Street West and Bloor Street area. Many of Toronto’s popular restaurants are located along Queen’s Street West in the entertainment district. Toronto is home to a variety of cuisines from around the world and can be found across town.

Sports

The Toronto Raptors is Toronto’s professional NBA team that plays in the Scotiabank Arena (Formerly known as the Air Canada Centre). The Raptors is a relatively new team in Toronto and is currently the only Canadian NBA team. They have appeared in every playoff in the last four years.

The Blue Jays is Toronto’s professional MLB team that plays in the Roger’s Arena (Formerly known as the SkyDome). The team was established in 1977 and currently has two World Series titles under its belt.

The Maple Leafs is Toronto’s professional NHL team that plays in the Scotiabank Centre. It was founded in 1917 and remains one of the oldest active Toronto sports team to play on a national stage. The Maple Leafs have won a total of 13 Stanley Cups and have had 21 NHL finals appearances.

The Toronto Football Club (FC) is Toronto’s professional soccer club that plays in the BMO Field located at the Exhibition Place. It was one of the first teams based in Canada to play in the MLS. In the 2017 MLS Cup, Toronto won 2-0 against the Seattle Sounders FC in the finals to capture its first MLS Cup.

The Toronto Argonauts is a less known professional football team that competes in the CFL. Their home field currently is the BMO field and has won 17 Grey Cups since inception. There is currently no Canadian teams that compete in the NFL

Toronto Airbnb Regulations

As of December 2017, the city of Toronto has issued new short-term rental rules to regulate the Airbnb market in Toronto. The new rules will prohibit the use of secondary or “non-principle” homes as an Airbnb rental for short term use. The rule was put in effect to help protect Toronto’s ever decreasing vacancy rate and the current vacancy rate is hovering below 1%. A large percentage of condo boards in Toronto already have strict guidelines against Airbnb rentals. The new law will be in effect on July 1,2018 and the city of Toronto plans to revisit the effects in 2019.

Toronto Infrastructure

Public Transportation

The main transit system is serviced by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Metrolink. The TTC system operates buses, streetcars, and subway in the city.

Currently, there are three main subway lines that are served by 678 cars and services the cities of Toronto, Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough. The TTC subway runs from 6:00AM until 1:30AM on weekdays and Saturdays and 8:00AM to 1:30AM on Sundays. On the streets of Toronto, the TTC streetcar services every major street running north to south and east to west. The streetcars run 24 hours a day 7 days a week and runs from Long Branch Loop in Etobicoke to Neville Park Loop in the east end of Toronto. The streetcars do not service any streets north of Line 2/Bloor.

The remaining areas that are not serviced by streetcar or subway is serviced by buses which are also open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The cost per trip on the TTC system is $3.25 for adults and $2.10 for seniors and students while a monthly Metropass can be purchased for $146.25. Tokens/Tickets and Presto passes can be used at all stations across the network. Recently in 2017, the TTC was awarded the APTA Transit system of the year award that celebrated the success of the TTC system in the past five years.

Created in 2006 under the Metrolinx Act, Metrolinx was created to help improve transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The Metrolinx differ from the TTC in that it services trains from cities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe area. The network of Go Transit busses and trains extend as far east as Waterloo and as far west as Peterborough. Metrolinx also operates the UP express, a high-speed train between Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and Union Station in downtown Toronto. The price of fares varies depending on distance and usage.

Airports

Toronto is serviced by two international airports: Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport(YTZ).

YYZ is currently the busiest airport in Canada, handling over 45 million passengers annually. Pearson airport is located in Etobicoke, a 30-minute drive from the city core, and is the main air traffic hub for the Golden Horseshoe region. Pearson airport has over 1,100 daily departures to more than 180 destinations around the world.

YTZ is a small international airport that is conveniently located on the Toronto Islands just south of the Lake Shore. Porter Airlines and Air Canada are the two primary airlines that serve this small airport and has daily departures to nearby cities in both Canada and the US.

Taxi/Uber/Lyft

The biggest taxi company that operates in Toronto is Beck Taxi. Their orange and green cabs can be seen roaming the streets of downtown Toronto. Taxi can be hailed on the street or booked in advance for pickups.

Like most major cities, Uber is a popular alternative to Taxis. Uber launched in Toronto in 2014 with the UberX service. Since then it has launched various other products like POOL, Select, Black, XL, and SUV. Uber is considered a significantly cheaper alternative to riding Taxi while providing high level of convenience.

Similar to Uber, Lyft recently launched their service in Toronto in December of 2017. Lyft is new player to the ride-sharing space in Toronto but it is known to have more competitive prices than that of Uber.

Highways

The 400-series highways are the major highways that connect Toronto to the rest of Ontario. The Ontario 401 Highway, the busiest highway in North America, stretches 828KM from Windsor in the west to the Quebec border in the east. Some other notable highways in Toronto include highway 427, 409, 403 and 404. There is currently one tolled highway in Toronto, the 407 ETR and rates vary depending on hours and zone the vehicle is travelling in Tolls Table.

Hospitals

There are currently over 40 hospitals operating in the city of Toronto, many of which are also medical research facilities. Within the network of 40 hospitals, there are 4 general hospitals located in Toronto, Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. Some hospitals are specialized in certain departments. Sickkids Hospital is focused on adolescent treatment while St. Michael’s has a great reputation with men’s health. Some other notable hospitals in Toronto include Mount Sinai, Sunnybrook, St. Joseph’s, and Baycrest.