Category Archives: Condominum Information

More New Toronto Homes In 2010

Posted on January 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

While Ontario housing starts dropped in December, Toronto housing starts increased over 2010

Central Toronto Real Estate Housing Starts 2010

Year-over-year housing starts in Toronto.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Toronto housing starts increased in 2010. Total registered housing starts in the area increased by 13%, attributed to the rise in demand for new homes.

“Growth was held back by a reduced supply of available lots for single-detached development and construction delays for many condo projects that opened sales offices in the pre-recession period,” said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in a mid-January press release. They also added that, “the high-rise industry is poised for a strong 2011 with preliminary work well underway at many sites, robust pre-construction sales figures and a large number of completions making way for new development.”

These results are preliminary, and the January edition of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Monthly Housing Statistics will contain verified housing starts for the year.

In the month of December, housing starts dropped across the country to 171.500 units, mostly blamed on Ontario and a slowdown on condominium projects. However, starts for single detached homes were only down slightly. In November of 2010, there were 198,200 housing starts across the country.

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Toronto Condominium Sales Break Records In 2010

Posted on January 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Toronto Condominium sales make up more than half of new home sales

More than half of new homes sold in Toronto last year were high-rise condominiums, according to real estate information service RealNet Canada. In 2009, 42% of new homes sold in Toronto were high-rise condominiums, while in 2010 52% of new homes sold in Toronto were high-rise condominiums.

2010 also marks the first year on record that more than half of new home sales in Toronto were condominiums.

According to the Building Industry and Land Development Association, Toronto condominium sales increased 30% over 2009 to a total of 37,000 units.

Toronto condo sales increase due to affordability

Most are suggesting that convenience and affordability are the main reasons that Greater Toronto Area condominium sales are thriving, and condominium sales just outside of the city are also on the increase – areas like Vaughan, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Mississauga and Markham. But unlike many large cities, the downtown core is one of the safest areas in the whole city of Toronto, which is making the downtown Toronto condo a popular choice for families as well.

A total of 16,000 new condominium units set to become available in the Greater Toronto Area in 2011 and 5,500 of these condominiums will be in Central Toronto.

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Posted in Market Information, Condominum Information

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Status Certificates Discussed: Claire Gordon

Posted on December 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Claire Gordon is a Sales Representative with Royal LePage/Johnston & Daniel Division and regular vlogger contributor to the Muddy York site.  Claire’s website is located at www.findahomeintoronto.com.

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Posted in Uncategorized, Condominum Information

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Toronto’s October Home Sales Surged Thanks To Condos

Posted on December 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

Seven in ten new home sales were condominiums!

Condos made up a whopping 70 percent of new home sales in the Greater Toronto Area during October, and helped propel October sales to the second-highest on record in the city.

According to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), condominium sales are a hefty portion of all new home sales on average. For the entire year so far up to October, condominiums have made up just over half of all new home sales in Toronto. In October, a total of 4,535 new homes were sold in the Greater Toronto Area, with 3,159 of those being condominiums.

Low-rise sales fell only 2.5 percent in Toronto, while high rise sales increased 14.2 per cent. Larger low-rise sales decreases were seen in areas like Durham, Halton and Peel, but Peel had the highest increase in high rise sales for the month of October at 164 percent, suggesting that more people might be looking for condominiums in the suburban areas of the Greater Toronto Area.

BILD said in its report that, “Although the City of Toronto continues to account for the bulk of all condo sales, the biggest spikes in activity were in the regions of Peel and York. The high-rise housing craze has started to spread to the suburbs and it’s a trend which will continue to grow.”

According to BILD, condominiums on average are about $75,000 less than a home, which may reflect another reason why more people are choosing to buy condominiums.

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Toronto Condominiums: Low Maintenance and Affordable.

Posted on August 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

Toronto homeowners appreciate condominium living, according to a recent TD Canada Trust Poll. The fourth annual TD Canada Trust Condo Poll found that Torontonians think very highly of condominium ownership, because it means less maintenance, lower prices and being closer to the hub of all the action – downtown.

“Torontonians continue to see the value in purchasing a condo, whether it is a place to call home for themselves or for their children,” said the associate vice president of Real Estate and Secure Lending at TD Canda Trust, Chris Wisniewski. “Affordability and stable monthly expenses can make condos very attractive for first-time buyers and investors,” he said in a press release.

Some of the highlights included that living downtown is a large motivation for purchasing a condominium, but the biggest reason is lower maintenance when compared to a house: 39 per cent of respondents chose this reason. Nineteen per cent chose affordability for their motivating factor, while 15 per cent chose downsizing in preparation for retirement.

The majority of respondents, 82 per cent, in the city of Toronto said they wouldn’t want to spend more than $400,000 for a two bedroom condominium, but these same people considered paying higher condominium fees fair. Only 17 per cent of respondents across Canada would pay more than $400 monthly in fees, while 26 per cent in Toronto would.

Condominiums are also seen as a great investment, with 38 per cent of respondents in Toronto saying they’d purchase a condo they wouldn’t necessarily live in.

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New GTA Condominium takes “green” to a new level

Posted on July 7, 2010 | 1 Comment

While other condominium developments springing up across the city of Toronto promise green rooftop terraces, LEED-certified construction and sustainable materials, the Limelight condominium building in Mississauga will be offering its residents garden plots.

Not just for residents, but with the opportunity to provide food for community initiatives like Food Share. Food Share is a non-profit that aims to tackle hunger by working with food from the field to the table.

The vice president of the planning corporation for the condominium development thinks that these garden plots will provide families with children a better understanding of where their food comes from while living in an urban setting.

“The plots are conceptual at this stage so there’s a labyrinth of different sizes. But the condo board will establish a gardening committee and decide how to divide or create communal plots. We have partnered with Food Share before and they can help decide what is needed and would grow best,” he told the Toronto Star.

Along with the garden plots, the condominium building features a green spotlight from the roof, 22 storeys and 6 floors of retail space underneath the garden plots.

This is an interesting take on urban gardening that allows condominium owners to give back to their communities while not losing out on the opportunity to learn about gardening and teach their children about sustainable food. It’s definitely a push in the right direction when creating a hospitable environment for families in Toronto condos.

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Toronto condominium projects are still going strong

Posted on June 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

At the beginning of last year, many of the giant condominium projects that were underway at the time were suffering delays, going over budget and falling prey to the recession.

This year, the last six weeks alone have seen 18 or so condominium projects about to be launched in Toronto that will serve a large variety of buyers – from retirees to first-time buyers to those looking for a luxury property in the sky.

One of the prime differences with some of these condominiums is the way that these suites are advertised. Instead of a gigantic, expensive public launch party and media campaign to gain interested buyers in order to get enough suites sold to begin building, soft launches seem to be a better option.

A soft launch is when a developer might have a more closed-doors meeting with investors, industry contacts or people who’ve mentioned they’d like to live in one of the developer’s projects but previously passed in order to drum up enough interest. This way, higher unprecedented costs aren’t passed on to the end buyer of the condo suites and the buyers can have their properties at a more standard rate.

The soft launches provide more necessary up-front sales that gets the project completed faster with fewer delays, and is much cheaper than a media campaign that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, the new condo sales already hit a record in the Greater Toronto Area at the beginning of this year, up 491 per cent over the beginning of 2009 when the industry was hit the hardest. Price per square foot is also up almost $100 from last year, and an estimated 30 new large condominium projects are estimated to be getting their start in this quarter.

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Toronto condominium projects are still going strong

Posted on May 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

By Heather Rose

At the beginning of last year, many of the giant condominium projects that were underway at the time were suffering delays, going over budget and falling prey to the recession.

This year, the last six weeks alone have seen 18 or so condominium projects about to be launched in Toronto that will serve a large variety of buyers – from retirees to first-time buyers to those looking for a luxury property in the sky.

One of the prime differences with some of these condominiums is the way that these suites are advertised. Instead of a gigantic, expensive public launch party and media campaign to gain interested buyers in order to get enough suites sold to begin building, soft launches seem to be a better option.

A soft launch is when a developer might have a more closed-doors meeting with investors, industry contacts or people who’ve mentioned they’d like to live in one of the developer’s projects but previously passed in order to drum up enough interest. This way, higher unprecedented costs aren’t passed on to the end buyer of the condo suites and the buyers can have their properties at a more standard rate.

The soft launches provide more necessary up-front sales that gets the project completed faster with fewer delays, and is much cheaper than a media campaign that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, the new condo sales already hit a record in the Greater Toronto Area at the beginning of this year, up 491 per cent over the beginning of 2009 when the industry was hit the hardest. Price per square foot is also up almost $100 from last year, and an estimated 30 new large condominium projects are estimated to be getting their start in this quarter.

Heather Rose is a Toronto based Journalist, who is a regular contributor to the Muddy York Real Estate Blog.  Heather website is located at heatherroseportfolio.squarespace.com.

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The push for more kids in Toronto condominiums

Posted on April 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s recorder season again. Grade two or three is the perfect time to let budding little minds hone their musical talents, and each class is learning how to play the high-pitched clarinet-like instrument. These younger children are excitedly returning home from school eager to practice Mary Had a Little Lamb on their recorders for the entire afternoon in an effort to impress their teachers and classmates the next day. Like any sane person, parents will usually banish the children to the backyard to practice, and the entire block is then filled with the shrill squeaking of children blowing as hard as they can on their recorders for the maximum amount of noise production. Unfortunately, not even the most prodigious little Mozart could make a recorder sound enjoyable.

This is when one might wonder about living in a neighbourhood that is essentially child-free and for some, condominiums might be the answer. However, the City of Toronto is really starting to push for more families with children in condo buildings when a lot more families are looking to settle in the suburbs.

Other cities, like Vancouver have seen a lot more children move into the downtown area and Toronto wants the same thing. Vancouver is also focusing on building schools for younger students in the downtown area.

Councillors want to socially engineer a lot of downtown Toronto’s condos to create a much more family friendly environment. Before that happens, they’ll need to establish more family-tolerant condo units, which are usually three bedrooms in size and need to be more affordable on average.

Last November it was proposed by the city’s planning and growth community that larger downtown condominium developments ensure that at least 10 per cent of their units are three bedrooms, but developers thought this would be unrealistic. To this day, both sides are still trying to find a resolution that suits them both.

Councillor Adam Vaughan told the Globe and Mail in March that, “what we build is market-driven. And if there were a market for three-bedroom units, we could deliver.”

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