Looking back on how inexpensive things like groceries and housing were in Toronto in years past really underscores how unaffordable the city has become, and a new study about the evolution of real estate prices over the last 30 years is a perfect example.

The findings, released by RATESDOTCA this week, draw a painful comparison between 1994 Toronto and 2024 Toronto, and are enough to grind any resident's gears.

Looking at typical household incomes and home costs in Canada's largest metropolis between the time periods, the insurance platform found that while the median after-tax household income in T.O. has gone up by 32 per cent in the last three decades, the average price of a place has skyrocketed by an enormous 205 per cent.

Let's compare housing affordability in 1994 and 2024.

Spoiler alert: It’s worse now.#canada #realestate #mortgage #housingaffordability #inflation #interestrate #ontario #albertahttps://t.co/Ssj3P6nhxl

— RATESDOTCA (@ratesdotca) June 12, 2024

"Canada's largest city has become a symbol of the country's housing crisis. Over the past three decades, Toronto's real estate market has seen unprecedented levels of soaring home prices due to population growth, and high interest rates and inflation," RATESDOTCA's experts wrote in their analysis on Monday.

"Homes were relatively more affordable [in 1994], costing around five times the median household income... but in 2024, the situation has changed dramatically. Now, homes cost about 12 times the median household income, indicating a significant drop in housing affordability."

Per the numbers, the standard home here was $196,731 in the earlier era,  which is equivalent to about $364,494 in today's dollars. Meanwhile, the average price of a house or condo in the city in 2024 is now $1,111,944.

At the same time, household incomes (median, after-tax) have climbed from $39,114 in 1994, equivalent to $72,472 in current value, to an only slightly higher $95,982 30 years later.

"Toronto hasn't been able to keep up with the demand for housing, which has led to a persistent shortage of available units. Despite efforts to increase housing supply, construction rates haven't matched the city's population growth," the study explains.

"What's also affecting affordability are the regulatory barriers and building costs, which have made it harder to increase housing supply in the city."

Make them $400K again and they will be gone tomorrow.

— Mike Pengelly (@mikepengellyCA) May 12, 2024

Interestingly enough, ample supply as far as the number of homes on the market has not helped push prices down at all in recent months.

The latest sales stats from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) show that even with a 21.1 per cent uptick in new real estate listings from May 2023 to May 2024 — and a staggering 83.3 per cent rise in the number active listings over the same time period — there were 21.7 per cent fewer homes sold last month than a year before.