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There’s no better indicator of the kinds of people who tend to go into journalism, and the kinds of people we tend to pitch journalism to, than Toronto real estate news. As home prices reached a certain level of astonishing last year, there was a spate of stories about crestfallen millennials abandoning their “dreams of detached homes,” as a Toronto Star headline put it. Home prices having since become even more astonishing, we have learned that even semi-detached homes — ick! — are beyond the reach of many who for some reason believe they should be able to afford them. Readers might wonder if homeownership had been declared some kind of hereditary right — if not a human right — under Canadian law.

One of the joys of Toronto for people of adequate means is the chance to be king or queen of your own castle, and its backyard, minutes from downtown. The market may be in for a correction, but “adequate means” have inflated mostly because Toronto is a vibrant, wealthy city people are desperate to live in. When today’s typical would-be first-time homebuyer was born, the homeownership rate in Toronto was around 58 per cent. People managed. So can future generations.