In Toronto, traffic congestion is doing more than fraying tempers. Industry experts say the mounting congestion is weighing on homebuyers, raising questions about the city’s liveability, and even straining the work of real estate agents.
Realtor Steve Fudge with brokerage Bosley Real Estate said that clients are now paying much more attention to where they work when deciding where to buy a home, whereas before it was less of a concern because commutes were quicker. Now that offices are calling workers back in after years of working from home, commute times are a big factor when deciding where to buy a home.
“What it all hinges on is your work,” Fudge said. “That is suddenly a real linchpin in terms of where you’re locating.”
Realtors’ day-to-day affected, too
Fudge said that longer commute times in the city have cost him business, as he is not able to show as many homes as he has in the past. At one time, he was able to show five properties in 90 minutes, he said, whereas now, due to traffic, it may take him about three hours.
“It would take me twice as long to show the same properties because of traffic,” Fudge said. “It’s just so exasperating to get across the city.”
He said there was a time when it didn’t matter where the property was, he would likely be able to show it. Now he is cautious to do so, since being late for one showing can easily snowball and wreck his entire day’s schedule.
If he is going to show multiple properties, then he will try to have them all in one neighbourhood, which is a limit to his city-wide practice. Traffic has also affected when Fudge can work, with him avoiding any showings during rush hour. He thinks traffic is top of the list in terms of obstacles Realtors are currently facing.
The Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis found that traffic costs Toronto about $44.7 billion annually. In a December 2024 report, the organization found nearly 40 per cent of workers in the real estate industry are affected by congestion, ranking it as one of the most affected industries. It said that there are now about 37 per cent more cars on the road in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area since 2001.
Downtown exodus
Allwyn D’Souza, a senior research analyst at the Real Estate Institute of Canada, told REM he found through his research that many homebuyers are moving away from downtown areas in major Canadian cities due to traffic and finding other ways to commute to work.
“As people age and are forming families, that’s when they don’t want to live closer to cities,” he said. “(They don’t want to) have to spend time in traffic.”
D’Souza said even if a family isn’t in a dense, urban core, they can still drive to the nearest transit station, park there, then commute into the city, creating a best-of-both-worlds situation. D’Souza said that trend is apparent in Calgary and its suburbs, where the commute times are roughly the same as people who live in the city.
Quality of life at risk
Jennifer Keesmaat, former chief city planner for Toronto and current CEO of Collecdev-Markee Developments, told REM that while traffic can be a headache, real estate prices are currently higher in cities’ downtowns because they are more connected to transit and walkable.
However, she said there can be a tipping point where traffic gets so bad that it begins to affect quality of life, and that’s when housing prices could see a dip.
“I do think the liveability of the region overall becomes compromised when you can’t get to places without it taking an hour or two hours when it would typically, without traffic, take 15 minutes,” she said. “The quality of life will begin to go down, and there’s a correlation between housing prices and quality of life.”
Keesmaat said that for a developer, where they choose to dig is often based on the variety of transportation methods available, not just about the level of vehicle traffic. Developers also prefer not to build parking, as she says it is expensive to do so, so they will often favour locations that are easily walkable, bikeable, or near transit. Still, being close to major arterial roads is usually popular, she said, because residents will likely still want to drive sometimes.
“We found that sites that work extremely well for two-person households are sites where there is great proximity to transit as well as a highway,” she said, noting that each person living in one space may choose a different mode of transportation.
At the same time, Keesmaat said many homebuyers are still all-in on the urban lifestyle, sans car, meaning they’re not fazed if there’s no parking. Keesmaat’s company recently announced a development in Toronto that offers no vehicle parking for residents.
Fudge said that raising a family in a condo is becoming much more of an accepted reality these days, with traffic as a factor. He said there has been a stigma to such an idea in North America, whereas it was more accepted in Europe, but that is starting to change.
“The richness of the city is being introduced to the child from birth basically,” he said.
Eric Stober has over 10 years experience as a journalist and writer at publications big and small, including Global News, Toronto Life, Post City Magazine, Greencamp.com, the Toronto Star and The Grid.