Urban Gems: detached house within 15 mins drive from downtown core. With a large private backyard / lot. Close to highway, shopping and commute.

Suburb housing is just some house in a suburb somewhere.

Now, the reason why near downtown is preferred is because all suburbs radiate from downtown. If you live downtown you essentially have access to all the suburbs. But the reverse is not true. For example, if you live in a suburb on the east side, it would be very inconvenient to travel to the west. However if you are near the downtown core you can access both. This will give you more options when it comes to career, entertainment and social life. Second point is large lots near downtown will never be created again near downtown. If you ever get new housing it will be high density. Hence the supply of urban gems are very limited compare to suburbs housing.

Therefore I think this article needs to understand these and realize the dynamic and value proposition of these two types of housing.

Same reason you cited. Detached homes in the middle of nowhere are quality-adjusted, but they might be trading 20 or 30% more than last year. It pushed the whole index up.

Not sure if I’ve seen that kind of movement in closer suburbs like Vaughan or Markham. Feels like those have mostly been the same-ish for a few weeks now.