Ontario renters are bearing much of the impact of property taxes

This accompanied the ever-increasing value of condos in Toronto

Ontario renters are bearing much of the impact of property taxes

In its newly released 2018 Canadian Property Tax Rate Benchmark Report, the Altus Group found that residential tenants in Ontario are bearing a significantly large proportion of the burden of property taxes compared to home owners.

Toronto and Ottawa, in particular, are problematic in this regard. The renter-to-home-owner tax burden ratios in these cities stood at 2.07 and 1.36, respectively, over the last year. For comparison, the ideal ratio is 1.00, with Quebec City (1.04) and Edmonton (1.11) veering closest.

The Altus Group report called out the provincial government for this situation.

“No policy changes were implemented by the Ontario Liberal government to cause a significant reduction in the ratios,” according to the study.

“With the election of the Ontario PC government in June 2018, it remains to be seen if the new government will act on this issue and implement a significant correction in the multi-residential ratio or choose to continue status quo.”

Read more: Canada’s red-hot housing hubs are fundamentally unstable

A fresh analysis by real estate information portal Zoocasa found that the value of condos across the city of Toronto went up by 11% on a year-over-year basis in September.

The condo price growth rate significantly outstripped that of low-rises in 23 out of 35 neighborhoods. Indeed, in 18 of the 35 neighborhoods covered by the analysis, condo prices saw greater increases than the city average.

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