In Ontario, while Toronto accounted for a large share of housing starts in 2024, so too did mid-sized cities, including London and Kingston. As previous C.D. Howe Institute research has shown, making these kinds of cities more attractive places to work and live will have a dual benefit of also helping to contribute to alleviating housing affordability issues in large cities like Toronto. The mechanism by which this works is that more livable mid-sized cities reduce demand for large cities, which would otherwise increase as large cities build more homes.
Source: Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0148-01; CMHC Housing Market Data 2024
Note: A census metropolitan area (CMA) or a census agglomeration (CA) is formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre (known as the core). A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more must live in the core. A CA must have a core population of at least 10,000 (Statistics Canada).
