New map charts Toronto rent prices by TTC subway station

Living within walking distance of a subway station is absolutely clutch for anyone in Toronto who needs to commute, but doesn’t have their own car and / or the patience to sit in gridlock traffic every afternoon at rush hour.

Sure, the TTC isn’t perfect, but its subway system will generally take you farther across the city, much faster and cheaper than any other mode of transportation.

Developers and landlords know this, hence the premium values put on rental units with easy access to public transit (and in particular, to major subway lines.)

A new infographic from the moving resource platform MovingWaldo.com shows how much you can expect to pay, on average, for a one- or two-bedroom apartment near every single one of Toronto’s TTC subway stations right now.

Using data from Zumper, which includes the exact distance from public transit lines on all of its listings, MovingWaldo calculated the average cost of rent for condos and apartments in the “near” (less than a mile) vicinity of each station.

Bay Station was found to be the most expensive subway stop to live near, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given its prime location in ritzy Yorkville, smack dab in the middle of the Line 2, between the east and west halves of Line 1.

“If you like living in the city, Bay Station has everything you would want nearby; restaurants, bars and pubs, stores and much more,” writes MovingWaldo. “Of course that comes at an expensive price.”

A one-bedroom within walking distance of Bay will set you back $2,356 per month on average, according to the analysis, while a two-bedroom in the same zone is approximately $3,383.

In terms of the most affordable subway station to live by, Dundas West comes in at first place with an average one-bedroom rent price of just $1,356. A two bedroom in the zone, which is located near High Park, costs roughly $2,849.

You can see the full breakdown below, but do keep in mind that rent prices are in flux all across the city right now; today’s inexpensive gem of a neighbourhood could be tomorrow’s hottest commodity, and something that seems unaffordable now might come into budget a few months down the line.

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April 2021 TRREB Report: Home Sales Dip From March, Though Up Strongly From Pandemic Pit

The April numbers for the Greater Toronto Area are out, and while they show a stark contrast from last year’s activity – during what was the depths of the first lockdown – sales and price growth are up strongly from pre-pandemic levels as well.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) reports 13,665 sales occurred last month, a more-than-quadruped increase of 362.1% year over year. That has set a new record for the month of April, and is also up 51% from 2019 levels, and 36.6% over the 10-year average.

Pandemic Buying May Have Peaked
However, there is evidence that the frantic buying activity that has defined the pandemic-era market may be starting to wind down, as sales come in -12.7% below March numbers. New listings, though up triple-fold from April 2020, are also down -8.4% month over month, with 20,825 homes brought to market across the GTA. Typically the opposite is true this time of year, as sellers and buyers come off the sidelines for the busy spring market.

The average home price was also flat compared to March, though is still well elevated from a historical perspective at $1,090,992, a 33% year-over-year increase. The Home Price Index Benchmark – a measure of the value of the most commonly-sold homes – rose by 17.8% year over year, though the pace of price growth is starting to slow.

TRREB President Lisa Patel says that the factors that have driven buyers thus far during the pandemic – such as a desire to upgrade to larger housing in more affordable markets – may be starting to decline as they’re not based on market fundamentals such as population growth.

“While sales remained very strong last month, many REALTORS® noted a marked slowing in both the number of transactions and the number of new listings. It makes sense that we had a pullback in market activity compared to March,” she writes in TRREB’s April release.

“We’ve experienced a torrid pace of home sales since the summer of 2020 while seeing little in the way of population growth. We may be starting to exhaust the pool of potential buyers within the existing GTA population. Over the long term, sustained growth in sales requires sustained growth in population.”

Home Prices to Continue Upward Trajectory
However, while the pace of price growth may be slowing, TRREB doesn’t believe it’ll change course. As the Bank of Canada has kept mortgage rates low, and as the impact of widespread vaccinations roll back lockdown measures, buyer interest will remain high, outpacing that of supply. States TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer, “Despite a modest slowing in market activity in April compared to March, selling prices for all major home types remained very high. Low borrowing costs during COVID-19 clearly had an impact on the demand for and price of ownership housing. While the pace of price growth could moderate in the coming months, home prices will likely continue on the upward trend. Renewed population growth over the next year coupled with a persistent lack of new inventory will underpin home price appreciation.”

GTA Remains in Sellers’ Market
Overall, the sales-to-new-listings ratio for the GTA was 65% in April, indicating sellers’ market conditions. This ratio is a measure used by the Canadian Real Estate Association to determine the level of competition in the housing market by dividing the number of home sales by new listings over the month. A ratio between 40 – 60% indicates a balanced market, with a percentage above or below that threshold indicating sellers’ or buyers’ markets, respectively.

Detached houses continue to lead the market in terms of volume of homes sold and price growth: there were 6,516 transactions across the GTA (+365.1%) at an average price of $1,387,629 (+41.3%). This is hardly surprising, given buyers’ desire for properties that can accommodate lockdown requirements such as working from home, virtual school, and increased green space.

However, the condo segment experienced the largest year-over-year increase in sales – a total of 3,290 sold in the GTA, up 394.7% at an average price of $691,791 (+19.6%). This was especially concentrated in the 905 markets where sales jumped by 450.5%. This shows demand is starting to return for high-rise living, which had stumbled in the immediate months of the pandemic.

Check out the infographics below to see how sales and average prices changed by home type for TRREB and the City of Toronto in April.

 

 

 

 

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Toronto’s Downtown Condo Market Bounces Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

After months of lagging sales, Toronto’s downtown condo market bounced back in Q1-2021, after nearly 3,000 condo units sold, thanks to low borrowing costs, renewed optimism in the market, and rising suburban home prices, according to Urbanation’s Q1-2021 Condominium Market Survey.

Released Monday, the survey said 2,886 new condominium units sold in the former City of Toronto in Q1-2021, which was more than 2.5 times higher than the quarterly average between Q2- and Q4-2020 and above the pre-pandemic level of 2,829 sales in Q1-2020.

During this quarter, 5,385 new condo units sold in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), coming within close range (-4%) of pre-pandemic sales of 5,593 units in Q1-2020 and surpassing the 10-year average of 4,924 sales.

Though, the 2020 theme of 905 region market dominance shifted during the first quarter, as momentum swung back to downtown Toronto.

Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation, says, “The downtown Toronto condo market turned the corner in the first quarter of the year on low borrowing costs and renewed optimism regarding the outlook, but also partly due to chain reaction after suburban home prices soared 30% over the past year and put the spotlight back on urban properties.”

According to the survey, a 76% share of new condominiums launched for presale in Q1 were sold by the end of the quarter — the highest level of opening quarter absorption since the market high in 2017.

New units that launched for presale in the GTA during Q1 sold at a record high average sale price of $1,261-psf ($817,000 for 648-sq.ft), up 8.8% from new units launched in Q1-2020 averaging $1,159-psf ($770,00 for 664-sq.ft).

New launch activity was driven by a number of successful new openings in downtown Toronto that sold on average for $1,419-psf ($856,000 for 603-sq.ft) — 5.7% higher than the average in Q1-2020 at $1,343-psf ($798,000 for 594-sq.ft).

During Q1-2021, unsold inventory across the GTA declined 11% year-over-year to 11,956 units — a 10-quarter low. Though, at the end of Q1-2021, average prices for unsold units available across the GTA increased 7.7% from a year ago to a record-high $1,178-psf.

As inventory wound down, developers quickly increased prices at the end of the quarter by an average of $45-psf (+4%) compared to the end of Q4-2020, with several builders raising prices by over $100-psf.

Urbanation says the new condominium market began heating up as the resale market broke new records during the first quarter, with total sales for GTA condominium apartment resales increasing 74% year-over-year in Q1-2021.

In the former City of Toronto, activity was up 104% from its pre-pandemic level in Q1-2020. Resale inventory in the former City of Toronto fell to only one month of supply in the first quarter, representing a “dramatic” decline from the five months of supply recorded two quarters earlier in Q3-2020.

While resale prices in the former City of Toronto during Q1-2021 remained 4.7% lower than last year, they still managed to surge 6% from the previous quarter in Q4-2020 to reach an average of $1,018-psf ($750,000 for 736-sq.ft).

In terms of future supply, Urbanation says the total inventory of condo units under construction across the GTA reached a record 83,497 units in Q1-2021, up 10% from 76,145 units in Q1-2020.

However, the downtown condo market represented the lowest share of GTA construction activity underway on record at 44% (36,997 units), while the 905 regions of the GTA represented a record high share at 32% (19,497 units).

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New condo sales totaled 5,385 units last quarter

Urbanation released its Q1-2021 quarterly condo market update for the Greater Toronto Area at the end of last month. And there’s some good stuff in it. New condo sales totaled 5,385 units in the first quarter of this year, which is higher than the 10-year average of 4,924 units and only slightly below sales from a year ago (Q1-2020). By and large, the numbers are starting to feel a bit pre-pandemic-like.

If you remember what happened back in the second quarter of last year, there was a quick shift in demand toward the suburbs and outskirts of Toronto. Part of this was driven by affordability. But I guess part of this was also driven by the fact that some people seemed to think that our cities had never before experienced a health crisis and were going to somehow die. Or perhaps it was because Zoom is so much fun (and not at all exhausting) and that this time was destined to be different. Either way, I never understood this.

Fast forward a year and the core is not surprisingly coming back. The oldest part of the city (former City of Toronto) saw 2,886 new condo sales in the first quarter of this year. This is actually higher than sales in Q1-2020. New condo openings in downtown Toronto sold for an average price of $1,419 per square foot. And overall absorption was about 76% in the quarter, which is the highest it has been since 2017.

Some of you may be looking at these numbers and thinking WTF. But when developers look at the costs in their pro forma, as well as what’s on the horizon — ahem, inclusionary zoning — it’s usually that same feeling. So it’s hard to imagine average prices and rents going anywhere but up.

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The hidden housing bubble

If there is a housing bubble in Canada, it’s probably not where you think.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Torontonians fled the dense urban core for arcadia and scooped up cottages in droves with the intention of living in them year-round. However, according to Bradley Watson, a broker with Sutton Group – Summit Realty Inc. in Toronto, the cottage segment of the housing market is niche in nature and does not usually experience such a rush of demand as it has in the last year, which indicates an aberration occurred.

“If a price drop could happen by 20% in the housing market, it would be in the cottage segment,” Watson told CREW. “If there’s a point of concern in our market, it would be cottages. Demand has been so high because people have the expectation that there’s no need to return to Toronto when the pandemic is over.”

Part of the problem is prospective buyers, both cottage country locals and Torontonians, are bidding blindly on cottages and driving prices skyward. But unlike more common housing segments, like condominiums and detached houses, there isn’t a wide swath of buyers for them to begin with, save for the recent surge that’s divorced from market fundamentals. In fact, demand could become depleted in the very near future.

“A lot of demand that would have been in cottage country throughout the next five years has been pushed forward into 2020 and 2021, and the spring market frontloaded,” said Watson. “The demand that exists for cottages is not going to hold long-term, so you can expect a bit of a lull. The demand they’ve experienced in the last three to four months will not continue.

“There was such a high level of demand for such a short period of time. In the next year or two, in my mind, you will not see the same level of out-migration from Toronto to Muskoka. For those people who were involved in multiple offers and paid way too much, the demand will evaporate with no race upwards, so you may see people get caught because they purchased at a level that the market says is too high.”

Watson is sure that a chunk of the cohort who left Toronto will return because the city offers things that few other places in Canada can. And as several of his clients have told him, assuming maintenance of one’s own property is especially rankling and time consuming after years spent living in condos.

“These decisions aren’t yet being made because of reversals of work-from-home policies. The people who left early really miss living downtown, they miss living in a lively city, and on the other side, some people are tired of maintaining larger properties themselves.”

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Canadian home prices just recorded largest annual gain since 2017: Teranet

A widely-watched Canadian home price index shot up nearly 11 percent annually in March as major markets across the country continue to experience exceptional levels of sales activity.

Released earlier this week, the latest reading from the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index represented the strongest 12-month gain since September 2017 and marked the eighth-straight acceleration in annual home price gains.

Eleven major housing markets spread across the country are tracked by the index, which is regarded as the gold standard for measuring Canadian home price appreciation. March’s reading had Halifax, Hamilton and Ottawa-Gatineau recording the highest annual gains in the country, with Montreal, Toronto and Victoria also posting double-digit percentage growth.

Halifax came out on top with a 22.5 percent annual gain, while Victoria only recorded a 10.5 percent 12-month gain. The remaining markets that make up the index — Quebec City, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary — all saw annual price growth, ranging from the low single-digits for the Alberta cities to just over eight percent for the Quebec capital city.

The index measured price increases in all 11 markets on a monthly basis too.

The Teranet-National Bank index is known to lag behind other widely used home price tracking tools, including the monthly average home sale prices published by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and local boards.

This is because the index is compiled using a repeat sales methodology that works by tracking the price change between the two most recent sales of the same property. The index uses prices entered into public land registries in the Canadian markets it tracks. These often are slower to respond to market changes because sale price data is not added to land registries as quickly as it’s entered into the MLS systems used by real estate boards.

While the overall index and its composite markets continue to record healthy appreciation, there are signs on the horizon that a price growth slowdown is looming.

Recent commentary from housing market observers has highlighted the potential impact of proposed changes to Canada’s stress test for uninsured mortgages on home prices. The new rules proposed by the country’s financial regulator, OSFI, would increase the stress test’s qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages to 5.25 percent, or two percentage points above the posted rate.

These changes are likely to be rolled out by June 1st, but the immediate impact could end up being quite mild.

“The proposed rise in the uninsured mortgage qualifying rate could take some of the heat out of the market, but we continue to anticipate further gains in house prices this year,” Capital Economics’ Stephen Brown wrote this week following the release of the new home price data.

Instead, Brown believes home prices are most vulnerable to interest rate hikes.

“[T]he clear risk is that [home prices] will become increasingly vulnerable to interest rate hikes further down the line,” he added.

The chief concern is that rising rates could negatively impact over-leveraged homeowners who will then struggle to make their monthly mortgage payments. This is an especially troublesome prospect following the major home price run-up and frenzied pace of buying that markets across the country have been experiencing.

An interest rate hike could also impact home prices by taking potential buyers out of the market at a time when supply is increasing, leading to price declines.

The Bank of Canada, which is responsible for setting the mortgage market-influencing overnight rate, has previously stated that rate hikes are a long way off. However, in an announcement yesterday it appeared to move up its potential timeline for increasing rates on the heels of a more upbeat economic outlook for the country.

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New CentreCourt condo draws downtown-loving under-40s to Jarvis and Dundas

Bader Elkhatib, the vice-president of CentreCourt, specializes in urban high-rises. Yet, the developer isn’t unnerved by pandemic Toronto’s quiet city streets or the trend that has seen more urbanites settling in the suburbs and the sticks.

“Wait until the weather is 14 degrees, like it was two weeks ago. The downtown was bumping,” says Elkhatib. “We are the second-largest financial hub in North America. Look at New York or San Francisco or London, England – everyone is clamouring to be in these areas,” he says. “Toronto is up there, too.”

He believes urbanites want the convenience of being within walking distance – of the Financial District, Ryerson University, transit, cultural venues, restaurants and bars, even if the trade-off is living in tighter quarters, he says.

In 2016, CentreCourt launched Core Condos, the first of six downtown east projects clustered within blocks of each other. The fifth, the 595-unit 8 Wellesley, sold out in 10 days earlier this year. The developer has approximately 3,000 units completed or under development in the area.

Prime, the latest offering built in partnership with Centrestone Urban Developments, at the corner of Jarvis and Dundas, replaces a rundown Comfort Inn, and will be ready for residents in 2024. Suites range from 300 to 800 square feet; prices start in the high $400,000s.

Designed by the architects at IBI Group, the 45-storey 595-unit tower is sharp and contemporary. Its three-storey stone and glass podium will be sheathed in charcoal metal laid in a staggered grid, accented by gold detailing. Outside the entrance, a cedar-lined overhang is a warm detail that leads to a lobby layered in Versace furnishings.

“First impressions matter, whether you’re a prospective renter or a buyer, so we always try to switch it up in each of our buildings,” says Elkhatib. (At 199 Church, lobby furnishings were Fendi.)

The interiors, designed by the firm Figure3, are intended to impart luxury. “As soon as you walk in, you see this grand gold light fixture. It’s like a five-star hotel lobby.”

“We’ve even had a scent curated for the lobby. It sounds silly, but it makes a massive difference to the experience once the building is up and running and people are coming in and out,” he says. “It doesn’t smell like Uber Eats. It smells like a spa.”

And automated package storage means piles of Amazon boxes won’t harsh the vibe. “The idea is to keep it clean and sleek,” he explains.

He has also “doubled down” on the gym and in co-working spaces, which he discovered was a game-changer in previous projects.

While bowling alleys and gimmicky amenities in general sound fun on paper, they’re not practical because they’re rarely used, he says. Elkhatib wants his buildings to truly reflect how people live – people who, like himself (he’s 31) and his colleagues, match the under-40 demographic that tend to populate his projects, he says.

To meet their needs, Prime has a 4,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor co-working space on level two, complete with modern glass breakout rooms and study pods in an open-concept setting.

As for the suites, Elkhatib says they will be efficient, to keep costs down. “When people look to buy, [they] naturally focus on size: ‘How big is the unit?’ I think, the better question is, ‘Am I paying for a corridor I’m not using? Do I need a 100-square-foot entryway?’ That’s very expensive and isn’t useable space.”

The units are compact and clean-lined, including a useable kitchen and a comfortable bedroom. In Elkhatib’s words, they’re “an attainable home” in the downtown core.

“We believe in the story of urbanization. It’s short-sighted to think that people’s living preferences change over time.”

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Toronto residential tower boom shows no signs of slowing

Toronto had 125 cranes actively working on multiresidential towers in March, according to the RLB Crane Index, dwarfing the total of any other North American city.

“The urban density story for our city has clearly not stalled during the pandemic,” Terry Olynyk, president and managing director of Multiplex in Canada, said in introducing a recent webinar presented by Urban Land Institute Toronto chapter.

Multiplex, an international construction contractor founded in Australia in 1962 and owned by Brookfield Asset Management, was the lead sponsor of the event that looked at the role and future of multiresidential towers in Toronto.

Consulting firm BTY director Robyn Player — who has provided construction phase monitoring services for more than a billion square feet of high-rise, multifamily, commercial and mixed-use assets — moderated a panel of executives from three development companies.

They spoke about their current major projects and answered Player’s questions about the high-rise market.

 

 

Metropia

Metropia vice-president of sales, marketing and design Lee Koutsaris spoke about 11YV, a condominium it’s developing in partnership with RioCan Living and Capital Developments near Yorkville Avenue and Yonge Street.

The 62-storey, 593-unit tower will have 81 rental replacement units, including 20 offering affordable rents.

It will have 43,000 square feet of retail space at the bottom and a new mid-block park connecting Yorkville Avenue and Cumberland Street is part of the project.

It will have 16,521 square feet of indoor amenities, including a swimming pool, a wine-tasting room, a fitness studio, a family area, a theatre, a business centre, a lounge and a piano bar. There will also be 8,353 square feet of outdoor amenities on a third-floor outdoor terrace.

Sales for 11YV launched in the fall of 2019 and continued through the pandemic, and only a handful of suites are still available. Any concerns about living in high-rise towers brought about by COVID-19 should be gone by the time they’re ready for occupancy in five years, according to Koutsaris.

“We have not seen any major shifts or changes in demand for suite sizes or bedroom types,” she said. “The demand for quality, well-designed units in tall buildings has remained.”

However, developers are now looking at more flexible designs and incorporating home office and study areas into units or amenity spaces. Balconies, outdoor amenities and access to fresh air have also become a growing consideration.

Koutaris said there has been an increase in demand for units to accommodate multi-generational families, where older parents move in with their adult children.

Koutsaris also emphasized the importance of recognizing the role developers play in promoting inclusivity within the built environment.

She talked about how Metropia and Context have created a $3.5-million fund for Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) residents to provide scholarships and training programs to help them become tradespeople and get jobs on construction sites as part of their The New Lawrence Heights development.

In conjunction with their AYC development at 181 Bedford Rd., Koutsaris said Metropia and DiamondCorp have created a social equity fund for residents of a TCHC building at 250 Davenport to help them apply for scholarships and training programs.

Pinnacle International

Pinnacle International sales and marketing VP Anson Kwok spoke about The Prestige At Pinnacle One Yonge, which will eventually feature multiresidential towers of 65, 80 and 95 storeys and 80,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities for residents.

“We have to design buildings in a timeless way,” said Kwok. “We spend a lot of time on layouts and I think it’s important for us to have something that works for everyone.”

Kwok is also seeing more multi-generational purchases, including families buying all four corner units of a floor in a condo in order to be close to each other without living together.

Kwok said Torontonians love towers and appreciate there are plenty of new ones being built in different heights and styles. They also appreciate what these tall buildings are generally surrounded by, he added.

“A really key component of living in an urban community is all the amenities that are around you, not just the ones that you’re building and providing to your local community, whether it’s parks, community centres, schools, great restaurants or great retail within walking distance.”

A certain number of unit pre-sales are usually needed to launch a condo project. Pinnacle originated in Vancouver, where Kwok said units are generally bigger than in Toronto, and the company has tried to carry that over as much as possible in Ontario’s capital.

“That doesn’t always correlate to the financing model that we have in the city, so we’re forced to be patient on those units and sell the smaller units at the beginning.”

Slate Asset Management

Slate Asset Management managing director of development Brandon Donnelly spoke about One Delisle, near Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue. It’s the first project in Canada by architect Jeanne Gang, founder and partner of Chicago-based Studio Gang.

The 47-storey condo will have 383 residential units and rise from its square base with retail space to a 16-sided circular tower with balconies and large terraces. More than 80 per cent of the building has an outdoor space and the adjacent Delisle Park will be expanded by 50 per cent as part of the project.

“It’s about livability within the actual building and the residences, but it’s also about thinking of the broader urban context and how this project fits in with that,” said Donnelly.

Slate hasn’t begun leasing One Delisle’s retail component, but Donnelly said there will be food and beverage options, including patios.

“Our plan is to own the retail here forever. It’s all about curating the right experience in this node with a long-term view on it.”

One Delisle will also have approximately 20,000 square feet of private amenities, including a fitness centre, a wellness spa and a wine and cocktail lounge.

Slate has been working on the project, which will launch this spring, for more than four years.

“It’s really part of a broader city-building and place-making effort,” said Donnelly. “We have been investing in the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood since 2013.

“We own 10 buildings, including all four corners, and since 2013 we’ve been working on everything from large-scale public art to streetscape improvements to new retail, investing in existing office buildings and renovating them.”

Slate’s extensive ownership in the area has allowed it to do more than it would have been able to do had One Delisle been merely a one-off development, according to Donnelly. This includes doubling the width of sidewalks surrounding the project.

The pandemic brought on an aura of pessimism about people wanting to live in towers in major cities, but Donnelly said that’s already turned around.

“Cities are incredibly resilient and tall buildings form part of that,” said Donnelly. “Cities have always bounced back and the reality is that we are incredibly social beings.

“We also realize that we are more productive and more innovative when we cluster together.”

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