Sorry, it's not high house prices that create long commute times, it's bad public transit planning.  Ten years ago, it took four hours a day to commute from the East end of the city to a job on the West end of the city.  That was by taking the TTC two hours one way, two hours back - all the TTC routes are scheduled on the assumption that everyone wants to go to downtown Toronto.  And then, before the days of the land transfer tax, some people would sell their houses and move closer to work.  The land transfer tax penalizes that idea - more bad government planning.