Homeowners in King Township, Ont., have basically won the lottery. House prices in the region north of Toronto have nearly doubled in just the past year — up 89.6 per cent since October, 2015, according to data released this week by the Toronto Real Estate Board. The average house price in King is now $1.919 million, up from $1.012 million a year earlier. House prices there have nearly tripled since 2013.

King Township near Toronto has seen house prices nearly double in a year. (Photo: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine) With Toronto house prices rising relentlessly year after year, more and more city inhabitants are moving out to the edges, forcing up house prices in places as far from Toronto as Kitchener-Waterloo and St. Catharines. But the strongest house price growth over the past year has been in some of the most distant parts of Toronto's 905 suburban region, where many cities have seen nearly 40-per-cent price growth. It's this sort of wild price appreciation that the federal Liberals are trying to cool off with the tougher new mortgage rules they introduced last month.