WHERE TO FIND HOUSES UNDER $1M
THEY ARE OUT THERE, JUST PREPARE FOR TRADEOFFS.
With the average price of a detached home in Toronto hovering around $ 1.56 million, buyers searching for elusive new builds closer to the $ 1 million mark need to look in the city’s outlying areas. Even then it’s not easy. In Toronto and surrounding suburbs, prices climbed by a third, year- on- year in March, in every major housing category, including townhouses and condominiums, as demand rose and listings failed to keep pace, according to figures released earlier this month from the Toronto Real Estate Board ( TREB).
Newly built properties, while few and far between, can help buyers sidestep the craziness of the bidding wars that have plagued Toronto realty in recent years.
“The number of listings is historically at record lows,” says Joseph Alberga, Toronto- based Lindvest’s director of sales and marketing. “That can really frustrate a family that might be viewing and bidding on multiple properties, only to lose out.”
A new build also proffers choice.
“These days it’s impossible to find a house that has all the design and floor elements you like,” explains Alberga. “Since we sell before construction has started, it gives buyers the opportunity to pick the layout that best suits their needs. With the prevalence of reno shows and HGTV, customers have become much more design- savvy and they know what they want.”
If all this sounds too good to be true, it is. The catch with most new- build purchases is a long- distance commute. Lindvest, for example, is building in Brampton, Aurora, and Newcastle, which makes for a one hour commute just to get downtown in good traffic.
With Lindvest, a townhouse in Aurora can run anywhere between the mid$ 800,000s for 1,725 square feet to high $ 900,000s for 2,300 square feet, with end units and corners marking the higher end of the scale. A new patch of homes in Newcastle will be coming to market at the beginning of 2018, while a crop of townhomes in Aurora Glen in Aurora will begin at around the $ 1- million dollar mark next spring and summer.
But even commuting- distance cities are running out of land.
Fred Losani, chief executive of Hamilton- based Losani Homes, says there aren’t many single- family homes available in Steeltown.
“It’s the same with Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington — the product is just not there,” he says. Losani Homes is l aunching a community of two- and three- storey townhouses named Madison Towns in their Central Park community in Hamilton. Prices range from the low $ 300,000s for 1,225 square feet and construction begins in 2019.
“Imagine if the GTA was a circle and downtown the centre of the world,” says Losani. “Now for developers, that circle is bulging to the outer communities — Brantford, Kitchener, Paris, Beamsville. Beyond Peel, you’ve got to think now of the Halton region.”
He calls it more the new “magic band” of development, a new tier where buyers can actually afford singlefamily homes. Losani will be launching their Beamsville community Vista Ridge within the year. “This outer circle gives access to a wide array of housing styles and prices,” says Losani. “I refer to it as ‘ the next great place to be’.”
“The next great place to be” is a 90-minute commute — one way. That’s really the sacrifice new- build buyers have to think about when it comes to purchasing the ultimate property.
For those not up to the commute, there’s always that rare development inside the city limits.
Winnie Chan, director of sales at Toronto- based Tridel, has launched five townhomes within their SQ ² at Alexandra Park location at Queen and Spadina. While the project consists of a 14-storey condo, the second phase features the highlycoveted three- storey townhouses, which share amenities with the condo itself and are connected underground.
“The buyers who walk into Tridel usually have a condo lifestyle in mind, since that is the product we have most,” says Chan. “So they’re generally looking for the conveniences of condo living — no snow shovelling, access to a party room and gym, 24-hour concierge.”
The difference with downtown townhomes, of course, is price. With an address at Queen and Spadina, prices begin at $ 1.35 million at the lower end of the spectrum. It bears noting that SQ ² at Alexandra Park is part of a community revitalization project where part of the land was purchased from Toronto Community Housing and Atkinson Co-op.
“This new community will be mixed — and some of our new townhomes will be privately owned, but some will be returned to Toronto Community Housing,” explains Chan.
She also hints that future new- build, single f amily t ownhomes will be developed closer to the Dundas area of Alexandra Park. Like SQ ² , they’ ll also be more than $1 million.
Then there’s the deluxe version of the inner- city town. For those looking to go well beyond the $ 1 million budget, Toronto- based Imperial Plaza’s The Foxbar begins at the $ 3- million mark for 2,800 square feet.
Seventeen of these properties will be launched “very soon” ( the first six sold out in just three months).
Similar to SQ ² , the townhomes c o nnect underground to all the amenities of the Imperial Plaza condos proper, including the 20,000 square foot Imperial Club, its amenity centre, which features squash courts, a golf simulator, sound studios ( for musicians), movie rooms, swimming pool, steam rooms, and so on. Only The Foxbar’s parking building will remain separate from the condo tower’s parking structure. It’s the finer details that $3 million can buy you.
“These condos deliver all the conveniences that condo living affords,” says Feldman. “But it is still a luxury to many buyers in this city to have a street entrance to their home. The market will pay a premium for that.”
Have we officially pushed past the elusive $ 1- million price point? If you’re looking for a detached house, the answer is yes.
The average price f or a detached, single family home in Toronto hit a high of $ 1 , 214,422 in March, according to TREB. And the price of new detached homes rose to $ 1,783,417, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association.
New builds, especially townhomes, which are attached and affiliated with a condo development offer the most hope for buyers trying to avoid resales.
Otherwise, buyers should buckle their seatbelts and buy a slew of audio books for the commute. For some, that’s a fair price to pay.
IMAGINE IF THE GTA WAS A CIRCLE AND DOWNTOWN THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD. NOW FOR DEVELOPERS, THAT CIRCLE IS BULGING TO THE OUTER COMMUNITIES — BRANTFORD, KITCHENER, PARIS, BEAMSVILLE. — FRED LOSANI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF HAMILTON-BASED LOSANI HOMES