Modern living: Canadians like their neighbourhoods

Three Ontario neighbourhoods – Old Town in Toronto, Corktown in Hamilton and Sandy Hill in Ottawa – have been ranked among the best in the country, according to a report that reveals most Canadians like their neighbourhoods.

According to Re/Max’s 2024 Liveability Report, 86 per cent of Canadians like the quality of life and liveability their neighbourhoods offer, while 50 per cent like their neighbourhoods a lot.

The report explores the neighbourhood qualities that resonate most with Canadians as determined by a Leger survey and determines the best neighbourhoods according to that criteria: affordability, proximity to work, easily walkable, access to green spaces and parks, proximity to health or medical services, low-density neighbourhoods, proximity to public transit, easily driveable, proximity to preferred childcare/schools, access to bike lanes/walking paths, a neighbourhood with diverse cultures and ethnicities, and high-density neighbourhoods.

Re/Max teamed up with Montreal-based data analytics company Local Logic to rank neighbourhoods across 24 of Canada’s biggest cities. Notably, neighbourhood safety wasn’t part of the Local Logic scores and therefore wasn’t considered in the ranking. As a result, the data was supplemented and vetted by Re/Max brokers and agents based on their neighbourhood expertise.

TOP 10 MOST LIVEABLE CITIES

While Ontario dominated the top 10 list with more locations than any other province, the prairie provinces topped the list, thanks to their relative affordability, the report found. The following neighbourhoods ranked among the top in the country:

In Greater Toronto, Greater Montreal and Metro Vancouver, the most liveable neighbourhoods are often concentrated in their respective metropolitan centre. Because they were typically developed before the introduction of cars, they were designed to be more walkable. As a result, they tend to rank high on overall liveability but fall short when it comes to affordability.

Metropolitan areas in the prairie provinces, meanwhile, tend to be the most affordable in the country – meaning residents have high salaries compared to the cost of housing. Given that affordability was a highly-rated criterion identified by respondents to the Leger survey, they rank higher on overall liveability.

POST-PANDEMIC SHIFT

Interestingly, there’s been a shift in liveability preferences since Re/Max’s 2020 Liveability Report. This year, the most important liveability factors include affordability (44 per cent), neighbourhood safety (10 per cent), walkability and age of home (each six per cent).

Important liveability factors include neighbourhood safety (34 per cent), a new addition to this year’s list. It took second spot from easily walkable, which was a high priority in the 2020 survey at 37 per cent. Age of home, another new criterion added to the 2024 survey (23 per cent), overtook fourth place from low-density neighbourhoods (30 per cent in 2020).

Affordability remains a major consideration for Canadians when choosing a neighbourhood to live in but major changes in 2024 liveability include a drop in the importance of proximity to work (down from 34 per cent in 2020 to 25 per cent in 2024,) and walkability (down from 37 per cent in 2020 to 20 per cent in 2024).

“Quality of life continues to be an important consideration for Canadians when choosing a place to live. Our survey shows that many have found a place they love but we also know that ongoing affordability crises and housing shortages are severely impacting many Canadians and have become a barrier to home ownership in regions across the country,” says Re/Max Canada President Christopher Alexander.

“When searching for a home, homebuyers may need to make certain concessions to their personal liveability criteria to get the most of what they deem important in a neighbourhood, in addition to what they can purchase within their means,” he says. “This is true, not just for first-time homebuyers but for all buyers, especially as affordability continues to be top of mind for many Canadians.”

As part of the report, Re/Max also ranked neighbourhoods best suited to specific lifestyles, such as city dwellers with kids, foodies, first-time buyers, luxury seekers, retirees, arts and culture lovers, and health and wellness lovers. Visit https://blog.remax.ca/best-places-to-live-in-canada/ to learn more.

Top neighbourhoods

According to Re/Max’s 2024 Liveability Report, the following are Toronto’s top neighbourhoods:

Up-and-coming neighbourhoods

The report highlighted the following as up-coming neighbourhoods in Toronto: