Building up the ‘burbs: See which parts of the 905 are seeing the most construction activity

While downtown Toronto is seeing a surge in construction activity with the waterfront and Entertainment District adding new condos at a dizzying rate, building isn’t by any means limited to the core.

Some of the municipalities that make up the GTA are among the fastest growing communities in the country. According to the last census, Milton had the biggest population boom among all census subdivisions in Canada, moving up to 84,362 in 2011, a 56.5 per cent increase from 2006. While a community in Saskatchewan came in second, Whitchurch-Stouffville took the third spot nation-wide. A 54.3 per cent jump pushed its population up to 37,628.

Between 2006 and 2011, the average population growth in Canada was 5.9 per cent. But in the booming GTA, 17 of the 24 GTA suburbs saw their increase in residents grow beyond the country-wide average.

These suburbs also saw their growth in private dwellings largely outpace the national average: from 2006 to 2011, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased by 7.1 per cent. In the 905 region, 17 communities saw more growth than the Canada-wide average, while Oshawa tied the national rate.

What does that mean for the future of the region? The growth spurt doesn’t appear to be lagging any time soon, with the Province of Ontario estimating a 39.1 per cent increase in the population for the entire Toronto region, bringing up its numbers to 8.9 million by 2036. And as the population grows, so do the number of homes.

Just how many new homes will the region see? We used our Market Snapshot tool to find out. In Toronto-proper, there were 48,732 homes under construction as of May 26th. Out in the ‘burbs, where there’s a bit more land to build on and fewer condos going up, there were a total of 33,490 homes currently under construction in the surrounding 905 communities.

But the suburban communities around the 416 aren’t all seeing the same amount of activity. It’s apparent from the map below that the towns and cities touching the borders of Toronto are seeing the biggest boom in construction. Who’s leading the pack? Find out here:

But the suburban communities around the 416 aren’t all seeing the same amount of activity. It’s apparent from the map below that the towns and cities touching the borders of Toronto are seeing the biggest boom in construction. Who’s leading the pack? Find out here:

1. Brampton

2. Markham
3. Vaughan
4. Mississauga
5. Richmond Hill
6. Oakville
7. Ajax
8. Whitchurch-Stouffville
9. Clarington

10. Milton

Source : Buzzbuzzhome.com

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Lead In My Toronto Drinking Water? That’s Crazy!

Lead in My Toronto Drinking Water? That’s crazy!

 

What do you mean there is lead in my Toronto drinking water?

Lead is a poison!

Toronto Water is poisoning our citizens by allowing this water to enter into homes

and places of business – this should be illegal [ maybe a Class Action law suite to get some immediate Action].

We citizens of Toronto deserve much better, must get quality, clean and lead free water

delivered to our homes – we expect it, we pay for it through our taxes and

our water bills.

Where is the leadership at City Council?

You mean there are better places to spend our tax dollars – rather than provide our citizens with safe, clean and lead free water?

This should not even be an option. Our citizens are being poisoned and we know how to solve it. Solve it!

Toronto claims to be and is labeled a World Class City but some 13% of our citizens/ homeowners are being given lead poisoned water – they and their children (who are most at risk with mental issues in their and Toronto’s future).

This is an election year (2014) both provincially and municipally – put the urgent pressure on the candidates that if elected they will solve this urgent Priority One problem.

 

“A Toronto Star investigation warns that water pipes in 13 per cent of Toronto homes have unsafe levels of lead in them and in some cases, the levels are 2,000 times over the safe limit of 10 parts per billion.

According to the report, older neighbourhoods most likely affected are High Park, the Yonge-Lawrence area, south Annex in downtown and parts of East York.

The data was compiled from 15,000 water tap samples collected between 2008 to 2014.”

“Water service pipes were commonly made of lead prior to the mid-1950s and continued to be used to solder pipes before 1990.”

 

Is your tap water safe to drink? Here’s some tips.

  • If you are in a condo higher than three floors, you don’t have lead pipes.
  • Houses built before 1955 likely had lead pipes. Don’t know for sure? The house documentation might say whether the pipes are lead or if they’ve been replaced.
  • Testing kits are available at Toronto Public Health offices [TPH]
  • Install a filter if water tests above 10 parts per billion (You will need a special filter.)
  • Boiling water won’t remove lead. However, you can “flush” your pipes: Run the water until it’s cold and let it run for another minute.

The city then began a public education campaign, provided filters and introduced new chemicals in the water to try and seal off the pipes over time.

Toronto Water General Manager Lou Di Gironimo says the only way to completely get rid of the lead from the pipes is to switch out both the public water main portion and the private home connection at the same time.

“What we were finding when we only did a partially replacement, when the homeowner wasn’t doing their side as well, you can see a elevation or spike lead level for a series of months,” said Di Gironimo.

“So whenever we do a partial replacement, we do leave homeowners with some lead faucet filters.”

According to the city, there are approximately 40,000 homes in Toronto still connected with lead pipes and Di Gironimo says the city is one pace to change about 3,000 of those a year. [Toronto Star ]

Homeowners and realtors need to know this and act according, if you are not sure – have your water tested, with the free test kit from TPH.

Yes get your drinking water tested. However put urgent pressure on City leaders to get their act together, focus and work on priorities. Cut the bureaucracy and put the emphasis on the front line engineering work(s) that needs to be done for the health and safety of our citizens and their children.

 

www.envoycapitol.com

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Hot pockets: The Top 10 neighbourhoods for condo construction in Toronto

Toronto Construction

Photo: Anthony Bailey/Flickr

The construction crane may as well be the de facto symbol of Toronto with new buildings going up in just about every corner of the city. Although March data from Statistics Canada suggests that Ontario’s construction explosion is petering out after several big years for building, there’s still plenty of activity going on in Toronto’s condo market today. New projects are breaking ground in the upper reaches of North York all the way to the western waterfront.

As of May 5th, there were 44,589 units under construction in the city. Using our Market Snapshot tool, we’ve crunched the numbers to find out which 10 neighbourhoods are seeing the highest construction concentration in the city.

In first place, the Entertainment District has a staggering 5,565 condo units under construction. That’s roughly 12 per cent of all the units being built city-wide. This particular market won’t be letting up any time soon with 2,651 estimated completions scheduled for 2014 and 2,180 suites scheduled for 2015 so far.

There were two notable trends among the top five neighbourhoods: subway and waterfront access. In a city where residents spend an averageof 65.6 minutes a day commuting, it’s no shock that builders are locating so many of their projects along major transit lines. Our number one neighbourhood, the Entertainment District, borders the Yonge-University-Spadina line, as does Church and Wellesley, number three on our list, as well as Willowdale, which takes the fourth spot.

Whether it’s downtown or the west end, condo units are also popping up all over the waterfront. Humber Bay took second place, with a total of 3,489 units currently under construction while Harbourfront came in fifth with 2,328 units.

As more of these suites come online this year and in 2015, we can’t help but wonder what the impact will be on the rental market given that a large number of units are bought by investors and leased. According to the 2013 fall rental market report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 27.6 per cent of Toronto condos are in rental.

 

“The 5,565 suites under construction in the Entertainment District make up about 12% of all the units currently under the construction in Toronto.”

And it looks like more and more suites in the city are taking that route. In the first quarter of 2014, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), reported year-over-year double digit gains for both condo leases and listings on MLS. The number of condo units leased increased by 17.8 per cent, with the number of condo rental units listed on the MLS climbing an astonishing 27.7 per cent from 2013.

All that extra supply translated into more choice for renters and a slight easing in prices. During the first quarter, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom condo in Toronto declined by 1.6 per cent to $1,573 per month.

TREB’s Central Toronto C01 district, which spans Bloor Street south to the waterfront and Yonge Street and Dufferin Street to the east and west, respectively, saw the most rental activity. It counted 3,751 units listed and 1,659 units leased in the first quarter. The district includes many of the neighbourhoods on our top 10 ranking such as the Entertainment District, The Annex and Trinity-Niagara.

According to TREB, there were 3,751 condo units listed on MLS in the first quarter and 1,659 leased in the construction-heavy C01 district. Compare that to the first quarter of 2012, when 2,038 condos in C01 were listed for rent and 1,194 condo suites were leased.

Does that mean rental prices will continue to moderate as more units come online? We’ll just have to wait and see.

To get a better sense of the neighourhoods at the core of the building boom, check out our infographic below:

bbhdata_condoconcentration

The top 10 neighbourhoods:

1. The Entertainment District
2. Humber Bay
3. Church and Wellesley
4. Willowdale
5. Harbourfront
6. Trinity-Niagara
7. Yonge and Eglinton
8. St. Lawrence
9. The Peanut (Don Mills and Shepphard)

10. The Annex

Source : Buzzbuzzhome.com

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