Toronto voters go to the polls to elect a new mayor in a special election in less than a week, and real estate, specifically housing, has been one of the top issues.

The June 26th election was called after two-term Mayor John Tory resigned in February over an admitted affair with a staffer, just months after winning an election for his third term.

An Ipsos poll released Monday shows housing affordability as the top issue in the campaign. Front-runner Olivia Chow, a left-leaning former city councillor, has targeted renters, homelessness and home ownership as key parts of her platform.

Chow has said her administration would crack down on what is called renovictions by tenants, in which landlords apply for above-provincial guideline increases to cover the cost of an upgrade to a rental unit. The 2023 guideline, which is mandatory for rent-controlled units, was set at 2.5%.

Also a former federal member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party, Chow leads a field of 102 candidates with 38% of the popular vote. The first-place winner becomes mayor.

Chow also wants to invest $100 million annually in what she calls the Secure Affordable Homes Fund to buy affordable units and transfer them to non-profits, like land trusts.

"We will actually buy the buildings that are at risk," said the mayoralty candidate during a press conference.

That part of her plan might resonate with some landlords like Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, the country's largest publicly traded landlord, which has openly said it is willing to sell some of its older buildings to the government.

Chow's plans may also rankle the investment community, including increasing the tax on vacant homes from 1% to 3%. She also wants to raise the municipal land transfer tax on luxury homes, with new graduated rates on purchases of homes valued at over $3 million, $5 million, $20 million and upward.

Affordability has continued to be an issue because house prices have been increasing again, despite rising interest rates. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported that the average home in the city, for all residential classes, was $1,197,021 in May. The last month of 2022 saw average sale prices in the city dip to $1,017,989, and they have risen since.

In a message to all candidates, the board called for no new fees on housing, noting Toronto homebuyers pay, on average, more than $350,000 in taxes and government fees on detached homes and over $180,000 on every condo.

"We recognize that taxation, fees, and development charges play important roles in funding communities, but they shouldn't make the housing affordability challenge worse," said the real estate group, which has called for a municipal land transfer tax.

The rental market in Toronto has been moving up even faster than the housing market, with rentals.ca saying the average one-bedroom apartment in the city is now $2,526 per month, a 20.5% increase from a year ago.

Marcus & Millichap noted in a report on the national housing market that Canada's apartment rental sector saw vacancy fall to 1.9%, driving rent growth to 7.3%.

"Investor enthusiasm remained positive for multifamily properties. While elevated borrowing costs curbed investment activity over the latter half of last year, apartment rentals were the second-most traded asset in terms of total dollar volume. With homeownership remaining a challenge, coupled with historic population growth, fundamentals are likely to remain healthy," said the real estate company.

Chow's closest challenger, according to the Ipsos poll, is former Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders who has just 14% of the popular vote.

Saunders has vowed to cut approval times for building housing to one year and said he would remove barriers to building more rental housing.

The former chief said he would take property taxes off affordable housing units and review development charges.

Ana Bailão, a former city of Toronto deputy mayor, was the only other candidate to reach the double digits in the poll at 12%.

She wants to strengthen eviction prevention programs and temporarily freeze new proposals to demolish rental apartment buildings.

The former deputy mayor also says she would support the construction of new purpose-built housing by continuing the freeze on development charge increases and advocating the federal and provincial governments for additional financial incentives.