Comparison of Real Estate between London, UK and Toronto, Canada

Background: I am a Canadian working in finance profession in London, UK. I own a house in Toronto. I was looking to buy a second property in Toronto, Canada and kept missing on bidding war as prices have run up so much. It was also a difficult process trying to buy while being in London, UK. A few UK friends have recommended to buy here instead. However, it will be very difficult to manage property when I go back to to Canada. In London, with the exemption of stamp duty tax for the past 1 year due to Covid-19, prices have not moved as crazy as Canada so I decided to do a little research to see if where house price is more justifiable.

Average price: In Jan/21, average house prices in London was £501,320 which is about CA$861,070 using current FX of £1= CA$1.72 and in Toronto was CA$967,885. Toronto price is about 12% higher than London.

London — 1; Toronto — 0

Density: London 5,701 people/square kilometre and Toronto 1,074 people per square kilometre.

London — 1; Toronto — 0

Geography: London centre is filled with low rise due to restriction to build up while Toronto downtown is filled with sky scrapers full of condos. One would expect average price in Toronto will be skewed to lower end due to high supply of condos which are cheaper than low-rise houses. Greenbelt area of London and Toronto is about twice of developed area.