City of Toronto Property Taxes Going Up 7%
The City of Toronto just announced that taxes for property owners will be going up by 7% including a 5.5% increase in property taxes and a 1.5% City Building Fund level for housing and transit projects - $233 for the average homeowner.
What is not being talked about is the massive amount of money the City of Toronto (and Ontario Government) will not receive in the form of Land Transfer Taxes (LTT) that are paid every time a home is purchased in 2023.
According to Wowa.ca, the average sold price in Toronto is now $1,051,216 and every buyer will have to pay $38,784 in Land Transfer Taxes on average. Property sales have decreased by 48% YoY and if these levels hold for the next 12 months, then lost revenue from Land Transfer Taxes will be nearly 3/4 of a Billion dollars for the City of Toronto.
Other cities like Calgary have zero land transfer taxes – that $38k in taxes you have to pay in Toronto is literally a down-payment on a condo in Calgary – as a real estate investor, which would you prefer?