Family gifts now average six figures for first-time buyers in both markets
Toronto and Vancouver placed 20th and 24th out of 1,000 cities worldwide in the 2026 Oxford Economics Global Cities Index, holding their positions inside the global top 25 even as both cities carry some of the steepest housing costs in the world relative to income.
The index, which scores cities across Economics, Human Capital, Quality of Life, Environment, and Governance, credits both cities' economic and human capital strength for the ranking, while flagging housing affordability as the factor pulling down their Quality of Life scores.
The gap between global standing and local cost of entry is not unique to the index. Demographia's 2026 report put Vancouver's median multiple at 10.8 and Toronto's at 7.6, placing both cities among the least affordable major markets in the study, alongside Hong Kong, Sydney, San Jose, and Adelaide.
National Bank's Housing Affordability Monitor recorded a tenth consecutive quarterly improvement in Q2 2026, with the national mortgage payment-to-income ratio falling to 51.1%. Vancouver's own measure remained the least affordable in the country at 79.4%, down 8.7 points year-over-year but still well above its long-term average of 66.2%.
What's driving the cost of entry
Anthony Bernard-Sasges, senior economist in Oxford Economics' Cities and Regions unit and co-author of the index, said housing costs remain the defining constraint for the country's top-performing cities.
"Residents of Toronto and Vancouver spend a larger share of their income on housing than residents of nearly every other city in the world, pulling down Quality of Life scores across several Canadian cities and posing an enduring challenge for local and provincial governments," he said.
https://money.ca/news/economy/bank-of-canada-interest-rate-hold-september-2026
For mortgage professionals, that cost pressure is compounded by rate conditions that have not moved to offset it. The Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at 2.25% in its September 2026 decision, its seventh consecutive hold, with the prime rate sitting at 4.45%.
OSFI, meanwhile, left the mortgage stress test unchanged in January 2026, keeping the minimum qualifying rate at 5.25% or two percentage points above a borrower's contract rate, whichever is higher, while continuing to evaluate loan-to-income limits as a possible complement.
Local price data illustrates the scale of the entry barrier. The Greater Toronto Area's benchmark home price stood at $925,900 in August 2026, down 4.5% year-over-year.
Average family gifts to first-time buyers are reported at roughly $108,000 in Ontario and $214,000 in British Columbia. Dustan Woodhouse of Be The Better Broker said homeownership in Toronto and Vancouver now depends largely on either a high-earning couple or substantial family assistance, a shift that changes the client profile brokers are working with in both cities.
A pattern shared by other desirable global cities
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/zurich-vs-other-major-cities-property-prices/
The tension between desirability and cost is not confined to Canada. Zurich, which ranked first in the 2026 IMD Smart City Index, still saw 82.4% of its own residents identify affordable housing as their top priority, according to Deutsche Bank research.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/london-property-prices-compare-to-the-world/
London's property offers less space per dollar than nearly every other major city studied, with only Tel Aviv, Singapore, Zurich, and Hong Kong offering less space for the same price. The pattern suggests that global top-25 standing and housing affordability strain can coexist in the same market, rather than one ruling out the other.
CMHC estimates Canada needs to build 430,000 to 480,000 new homes annually by 2035 to restore affordability nationally, a target current construction is not meeting, with housing starts expected to continue slowing through 2026. That structural supply gap sits underneath the cyclical improvements reported by National Bank, and helps explain why affordability gains at the national level have not closed the distance for buyers in Toronto and Vancouver specifically.
Montreal ranked 62nd globally, drawing on its large economy, high life expectancy, and skilled workforce, with McGill University and a growing AI research and video game sector cited as contributing factors.
Calgary (69th) and Ottawa-Gatineau (104th) posted strong Human Capital scores, with Calgary leading the country in population growth and Ottawa-Gatineau benefiting from its concentration of government and policy-sector employment. Edmonton, at 125th and sixth nationally, was identified as the city most likely to climb the rankings in the coming years, supported by GDP, employment, and population gains, along with disposable incomes already above the national average.
Rounding out the Canadian top 10 were Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (133rd), Halifax (151st), Quebec City (161st), and Winnipeg (168th). New York, London, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, Dublin, Boston, San Jose, Tokyo, and Zurich took the top 10 spots globally.
