Housing in Little Portugal, Toronto

A third of everything standing in Little Portugal today went up after 2010, which is the clearest sign of what happened along this stretch of Queen and Dundas: mid-rise condominium replaced low-rise industry. The result is two markets in one neighbourhood, a new one-bedroom on the main street and a century semi behind it, and they are priced, financed and inspected in completely different ways.

A row of two-storey shops with signs in Portuguese

A bakery on the ground floor of a brick building

Dundas Street WestAndrevruas, CC BY-SA 3.0
A bakery on Dundas Street WestAndrevruas, CC BY-SA 3.0

Photographs from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licence shown with each one. A photograph is here because it was taken inside this neighbourhood's boundary or because its own page names this neighbourhood or its main street, and because somebody looked at it.

Little Portugal, among Toronto's 158 neighbourhoodsExplore on Google Maps

People: 15,485
Households: 7,890
Median dwelling value: $1M
Median household income: $86K

What stands out about Little Portugal

35% of its housing has gone up since 2011, higher than the middle of Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods at 6%.
3% of its dwellings are detached houses, lower than the middle of Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods at 26%.
37% of its dwellings are condominium, higher than the middle of Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods at 20%.
57% of its households rent, higher than the middle of Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods at 46%.

What is built here

Detached house: 3%265
Semi-detached house: 6%455
Row house: 8%625
Duplex: 3%255
Apartment, under five storeys: 34%2,690
Apartment, five storeys or more: 45%3,560

And how many bedrooms it has

One bedroom: 39%3,115
Two bedrooms: 32%2,520
Three bedrooms: 17%1,350
Four or more bedrooms: 9%720

When it was built

The most useful line on this page. Almost everything a home inspection turns up in Toronto is a function of the decade the house went up in, and so is most of what an insurer asks about.

1960 or before: 40%3,155
1961 to 1980: 9%715
1981 to 2000: 7%555
2001 to 2010: 9%730
2011 to 2021: 35%2,735

What to check before you buy in Little Portugal

Raised by the housing stock above, not by any particular house. Each one is a question to ask rather than a problem to expect.

The status certificate, before anything elseMost of what sells here is condominium, and in a condominium purchase the document that matters is not the home inspection. The status certificate says what is in the reserve fund, what the corporation has already resolved to spend, whether there is litigation, and what the fee covers. Budget the time for a lawyer to read it.
The building's age, not just the unit'sA renovated unit in a building that has not repiped or done its garage membrane is a renovated unit with a special assessment coming. Ask what major work the building has completed, and what its engineer's reserve fund study says is next.
New enough to still be under warrantyA fifth or more of the housing here has gone up since 2011, so some of it is still inside the Tarion new home warranty period. The warranty follows the home rather than the first buyer, and what it still covers depends on the date of possession, not the date you buy.
Whether the place you are buying has a tenant in itMost households here rent, so a good share of what comes up for sale is tenanted. A tenancy continues after a sale in Ontario, and the rules about a purchaser moving in are specific and worth reading before you write the offer rather than after.

What it costs to live here

Owner monthly shelter cost: $1,960
Renter monthly shelter cost: $1,800
Owners with a mortgage: 65%
Households renting: 57%

Shelter cost is the census measure: for an owner it is the mortgage payment, property taxes, condominium fees and utilities together, and for a renter it is rent and utilities. These are medians from 2021, so read them as the shape of the place rather than as a quote.

How people get to work

Car, truck or van: 40%1,750
Public transit: 29%1,250
Walked: 15%635
Bicycle: 12%510

Where these numbers come from

2021 Census of Population, Statistics Canada, tabulated by the City of Toronto Open Data as Neighbourhood Profiles, with neighbourhood names and boundaries from Neighbourhoods. Retrieved September 18, 2026. The City publishes both packages with their licence recorded as "License not specified".

These are aggregate figures for a whole neighbourhood from a census taken in 2021, so they lag the market and they describe no individual home. Housey is not a real estate board and this is not MLS data: for what a specific house is worth today, ask a realtor.