Welcome to my blog on housing, culture, and design in Toronto! This is where I share my insights and experiences on almost every aspect of the Toronto Real Estate Market – and life here in the 6ix!
During the Covid19 pandemic, I spent a lot of time researching and writing about the ways the pandemic was reshaping our lives, both in terms of our domestic spaces (How To Resolve Your Work From Home Dilemma + Demand For ‘Forever Homes’ In Toronto’s Downtown Family Neighbourhoods Persists), how we spent our leisure time (The Movement To Hipsteading) and how the search criteria of buyers shifted to prioritizing square footage (The New Space Race), more private outdoor space, and fueled an exodus from urban centres as I wrote in Going East: A Toronto Real Estate Exodus To Atlantic Canada.
Although my attention for the past 2+ years has been on the newly emerging shelter trends wrought by Covid19 (including Post-Pandemic Housing Trends To Watch For), as we move out of our collective pandemic survival mode to one where we’re repeating the mantra “the worst is over, the worst is over, the worst is over”, I can confirm the evolving market conditions I’ve been observing in the real estate trenches remain omniscient. Namely, neighbourhoods in the original City of Toronto are undergoing a massive rejuvenation – initially through the renovation of the existing housing stock during the first 15 of my 30 years as a realtor but, more commonly since is the acquisition of properties that are torn down and then substantially rebuilt or are newly constructed into luxury executive residences.
In Exploring Toronto Real Estate – which I posted nearly 7 years ago – I explain the three approaches to establishing value, which are a Market Value Comparison approach, an Income approach and a Land Value + Development = Cost approach. All three are legitimate ways one might determine the value of a property. In that blog, I also cite several houses which had been recently sold, and which were effectively ‘tear downs’ and valued for their lots.
Since that blog – despite the temporary impact of the Provincial Government’s ‘Fair Housing Plan’ intervention back in 2017 – our robust market continues at a time when our original housing stock is increasingly obsolete and no longer serving the needs of most modern households. And it spans the entire original City, which I illustrated back in 2018 with a post called Ten Toronto New Builds That Recently Sold For Between $2M And $10M. It exemplifies there is a massive amount of redevelopment in Toronto, where small-scale builders to large real estate corporations are paying top dollar to acquire sites and invest substantial sums to transform a property into its current highest and best use. In almost all cases this also means creating shelter for the most affluent, leaving a rapidly diminishing supply of (somewhat) habitable housing for the rest of us, as I wrote in The Affordability Conundrum For Toronto House Buyers: Location, Condition & Costs.
Today, there is no neighbourhood that is not being redeveloped. For example, four years ago in How Toronto Real Estate Near Queen Street – East & West – Is Climbing In Value I shared some recent sales of substantially transformed residences flanking either side of the Financial District to demonstrate how once marginal locations are now setting new price precedents in the downtown core. These sales signal that once upon a time you could get a pretty significant discount for a depreciated property that was in proximity to urban blight (like industrial sites and sewage treatment plants), but this is no longer the case.
This kind of change is occurring in many neighbourhoods across the original City Of Toronto – like East York which is the focus of today’s post. Our urban fabric is changing. And, as we’re witnessing, the more a location sees newly rebuilt and renovated swish houses come to market (over $2mil+ price range), the more it reassures other Builders and Buyers to follow suit.
Here are 7 new builds that have sold since August 2022 (of which 4 sold in Nov/Dec 2022 + 1 in 2023) that provide a snapshot of the East York new homes market.
* The average sale price was $2,206,000.
* The average number of days on market was 22.
* From closing on the purchase of the teardown, the new build was completed and sold an average of 18.6 months later.
232 Woodmount
Lot purchased in July 2021 for $920,000
New build sold in August 2022 for $1,910,000 after just 3 Days on the market
*10 months from lot purchase to final sale
122 Coleridge
Lot purchased in June 2021 for $925,000
New build sold in December 2022 for $1,989,000 after just 3 Days on the market
*16 months from lot purchase to final sale
373 Mortimer
Lot purchased in November 2020 for $910,000.
Sold in November 2022 for $1,950,000 after 11 Days on market
* 21 months from lot purchase to final sale
118 Barker
Lot purchased in July 2020 for $850,000
Sold in November 2022 for $2,400,000 after 85 Days on market .
*25 months from lot purchase to final sale.
**Inground heated swimming pool was not value-added IMO***
237 Gamble
Lot purchased in April 2021 for $900,000
Sold in January 2023 for $2,300,000 54 Days on market
*17 months from lot purchase to final sale
48 St Hubert
Lot was purchased in August 2020 for $1,050,000
Sold in September 2022 for $2,395,000 after 57 Days on market
*23 months from lot purchase to final sale
**Lot was the most similar in lot dimensions ****
24 Derwyn
Lot was purchased in January 2018 for $835,000
Sold in December 2022 for $2,500,000 after 28 Days on market
*Bungalow was rented for a period before redevelopment began
If you enjoyed this post, you might like these articles on Urbaneer.com:
10 Precedent-Setting Sales In Toronto’s Oakwood Village Neighbourhood This Past Year
Dear Urbaneer: Should I Renovate My House In Stages Or Do A Full Gut?
Dear Urbaneer: I Need Help With Architects, Builders And Toronto’s Committee Of Adjustment
Build A New Multi-Generational Family Residence, Co-Housing For 4 Friends, An Income Property Or Small Condominium In East York, Toronto
Building A Garden Suite – On A Property For Sale In East York, Toronto – By Lanescape
The History Of East York & Toronto Real Estate – Featuring Holborne Avenue!
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