patrick.net

Much like today, turn-of-the-19th-century Toronto was going through some difficult growing pains.

A land boom had recently doubled the size of Toronto, but also added to the city’s debts and left many new landowners bankrupt when the real estate bubble burst.

“A considerable number of people own their own houses, though this circumstance may be of questionable advantage.”

Author Clark at times sounds a lot like a bitter would-be home buyer of 2017, unable to cope with out-of-control housing prices. At one point he suffers Victorian sticker shock while checking out a house on Charles Street.

“Price $3,000. By the fairest calculation in mathematics, it will be seen that to pay 6%, $180 are required, taxes $48 at least, and then your chances at profit are only contained in the remote contingency of the property increasing in value.”