{"id":1148,"date":"2019-09-04T21:06:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2019-09-04T21:12:54","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:12:54","slug":"how-to-relocate-to-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/how-to-relocate-to-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Relocate to Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Toronto has a lot\ngoing for it. Regarded as the financial capital of Canada and a top ten financial\ncentre of the world<\/a>, the city has a bustling economy and plenty of\njob opportunities. More recently, Toronto has been challenging its American counterparts<\/a> such as\nSan Francisco and New York City as a tier one tech hub. According to a survey by CBRE Group<\/a>, Toronto was the fastest\ngrowing tech job market in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no wonder why\nmany people are now relocating to Toronto. And if you\u2019re in this pool of new\nTorontonians, then this article is perfect to understanding the city and making\nsure you fit right in. This post details how to get around Toronto and notes\nthe cost of buying and renting a home, \nthe neighbourhoods and the surrounding suburbs, and a few resources to\nfind out what\u2019s happening in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting\naround <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While traffic in Toronto isn\u2019t as bad as Los Angeles or New York City, it\u2019s still not a great place to drive or commute. A study last year<\/a> concluded that Toronto was the sixth worst city for commuting. However, there are plenty of ways to get through the city, whether that\u2019s public transit, a personal car, or through taxis and ridesharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Public\nTransit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Toronto\u2019s main\ntransit system is called the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). This includes\nall subways, streetcars, and busses in Toronto. Once you buy a ticket ($3.25\nCDN), you can transfer from one system to another without any additional fees\n(however, there are additional costs for transferring onto transit systems\noutside of the TTC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s recommended\nthat you buy a PRESTO card, TTC\u2019s metrocard, as soon as possible. A PRESTO card\nis not only more convenient than cash, but reduces your ticket fees to $3.10\nand provides an unlimited, two-hour transfer. You can also use PRESTO with many\nof the transit systems of the surrounding suburbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Toronto doesn\u2019t\nhave an extensive subway system like many large American cities do, that\ndoesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible to get around. The subway system is still able to\nreach the far corners of the city and even to parts of the surrounding suburbs.\nWhere the subway can\u2019t reach, a streetcar or bus will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Driving,\nRidesharing, and Taxis <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For those who\ndon\u2019t like public transit or who have unfortunately inconvenient commutes which\nwould take hours by bus or subway, driving may be the best option. Within the\nDowntown Core, most parking is going to cost you, and most of Midtown and North\nYork will be the same. So make sure to account for parking fees in your budget.\nIt\u2019s also important to familiarize yourself with Toronto\u2019s main freeways such\nas the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner Express, and the 401 Expressway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\u2019t drive or\ndon\u2019t own a car and don\u2019t want to bother with the TTC? There\u2019s a solution for\nthat too. Unlike Vancouver, Uber and Lyft are available in full in Toronto.\nBoth apps use the original, non-subscription-based model, so you can use the\napps on a per-ride basis. If you\u2019re from a city that doesn\u2019t allow for\nridesharing, make sure to look out for promotional codes, which can provide a\nfair amount of cash credit. Of course, taxis are also available in Toronto.\nIt\u2019s best to call beforehand than to hail one off the street though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home\nand Rent Prices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because Toronto\nis such a hotspot for commerce and tech, it\u2019s no doubt that the real estate is\nexpensive. Housing costs aren\u2019t as hectic as San Francisco or New York City,\nbut a 2019 CRBE report listed Toronto as the 12th most expensive housing market<\/a> in the\nworld. This still only puts Toronto as the second most expensive housing market\nin Canada, as Vancouver was awarded 4th place on the list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Toronto Real\nEstate Board provides a monthly market watch newsletter<\/a> to analyze monthly\nsales trends and average price. In the most recent May 2019 edition, the\naverage home in Toronto sold for $937, 804 CDN. This includes all types of\nhomes such as detached, semis, townhouses and condo apartments. More\nspecifically, detached homes averaged a selling price of $1,384,993 CDN and\ncondo apartments averaged $642,891 CDN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renting is just\nas bad in Toronto. And despite CRBE listing Vancouver as the most expensive\nhousing market in Canada, Padmapper<\/a>,\nfound that in May 2019, Toronto had the most expensive apartment rental market\nin the country. A one-bedroom apartment in May averaged a monthly rent of\n$2,250 CDN while a two-bedroom apartment averaged $2,850 CDN. These numbers aren\u2019t\nmuch of a change from the month prior, but are an 8.2% and 7.5% increase\nyear-over-year respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you\u2019re\nplanning to either buy or rent in Toronto, be prepared for some crazy expensive\nreal estate, especially if you\u2019re not from a city that\u2019s used to such high rent\nand home prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Toronto\nNeighbourhoods and the Greater Toronto Area<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto has many\nneighbourhoods which are grouped into districts. These districts, which include\nOld Toronto, East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York, are\npretty much cities of their own. Commonly, when people mention Toronto, they\nrefer to Old Toronto, which includes the Downtown Core and surrounding areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each district has\nits own culture, sights, and diversity. Housing prices and public transportation\nalso vary. For example, much of Scarborough isn\u2019t subway accessible! For more\ndetails on Toronto neighbourhoods, check out our list of the Top 10 Neighbourhoods in Toronto for Families with\nChildren.  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nGreater-Toronto Area (GTA) includes many of the municipalities right outside of\nToronto, including the York, Peel, Halton, and Durham regions. Each region has\nmany municipal cities. Among them is Mississauga, which is actually the 6th largest city in Canada<\/a>! For those who\ndon\u2019t want the crowded spaces of the main city or who are willing to live\nfurther from Toronto in exchange for a cheaper cost of living, then the GTA is\nthe way to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resources\nfor Nearby Events and Local News<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The city has no\nshortage of news to report on and newspapers to report it. Two of the largest\nnewspapers are the Globe and Mail<\/a> and the\nStar<\/a>. These two newspapers run both online and in print. However,\nthey limit the number of viewable articles per month on their website, unless\nyou pay a monthly subscription fee. Both are great sources for traditional news\nabout Toronto.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great ways to\nfind the hottest restaurants or what\u2019s happening this weekend are the newer,\nonline-only newspapers like BlogTO<\/a>. If you\u2019re relocating from Vancouver, DailyHive <\/a>will\nbe a familiar face that\u2019s also reporting on everything Toronto. For the\nMontreal kids on the block used to MTL Blog, Toronto also has Narcity<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So welcome to\nToronto. The city has much to offer to new residents and there\u2019s plenty to do.\nLike any city, it has its pros and cons, but it\u2019s a great place to call home.
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Toronto has a lot going for it. Regarded as the financial capital of Canada and a top ten financial centre of the world, the city has a bustling economy and plenty of job opportunities. More recently, Toronto has been challenging its American counterparts such as San Francisco and New York City as a tier one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43],"tags":[58,253,376,377,222,378,379,380,381,375,374],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying","category-investing-in-real-estate","tag-buying-in-toronto","tag-buying-real-estate","tag-relocating","tag-relocating-to-toronto","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-canada","tag-toronto-housing","tag-toronto-traffic","tag-toronto-transit","tag-yyz","tag-yyzliving"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1154,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rankmyagent.com\/realestate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}