Name world cities, and certainly names like London, Paris, New York come to mind, but perhaps not so much Toronto.
And yet for several years in international rankings, Toronto has been declared one of the world’s best cities in which to live and work.
The international firm, Price,Waterhouse,Cooper LLP financial services has released its latest report called “Cities of Opportunity-7”. The report ranks 30 major international cities on 10 specific indicators and over 60 other variables to create their rankings.
Toronto was listed at number 4 in 2014, but in this latest report moves to number three in the world behind London (#1) and Singapore (#2) but ahead of Paris, Amsterdam and New York.
A manager of PwC Canada said, “Toronto’s strong performance in metrics related to quality of life and economic potential are consistent with the realities of a city that has been internationally recognized for its cultural diversity, growing community of entrepreneurs, and accessible health care system, social services and education.”
Toronto ranks first in ‘Quality of Life’, second in ‘Health, Safety and Security’, and performs within the top 10 for Ease of Doing Business (#4), Intellectual Capital & Innovation (#4, tied with Amsterdam), Entrepreneurial Environment (#5) and Technology Readiness (#9).
Toronto fell short however in areas involving transportation and infrastructure due to traffic congestion, ease of commute, and mass transit coverage, getting a 12th place ranking in those variables.
Also holding it back were rankings technological issues like digital security (#10) and broadband quality (#14)
Interestingly, today a different report was released on housing prices in Canada’s most populous city.
The report shows home prices continue to soar, with detached homes increasing in price in Toronto and the surrounding region, some 21 percent since the same time last year and average prices on all homes including condos up by almost as much.
The average price for any home in the Toronto region is now well over $700,000, while a detached house will cost well over a million dollars.
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