With the opening of The One by Mizrahi last year, the precedent for super-tall condo buildings was set and the pinnacle was reached (so far) for this kind of grandiose design. At 85 storeys, The One will be the tallest residential building in Canada. Looking across Toronto’s skyline, you’ll see several other buildings with similarly impressive floor numbers such as One Bloor (75 storeys), Aura at College Park (55 storeys), and that’s just the start of new developments going up and up. With this trend on the rise, it’s an interesting time to examine the real investment value of buying on a higher floor.

Labour Day has passed and for some that means the summer has ended. Vacation time is wrapping up, students are heading back to school, and the real estate world will be shifting into its fall season. The summer had a slow start, but sales were up year-over-year in July and the prices of condos in Toronto continued to climb. Looking ahead, what can we expect this fall?

Based on what we’ve seen this summer, we are expecting the fall real estate season to perform similarly to 2017, with slower activity than 2016.* Looking at the current market absorption rates for Toronto condos in separate price groups, we can see that larger units (two and three-bedroom condos) are taking longer to sell on average, with market absorption rates in the range of 50 to 140 days. Anything under 120 days should be concerned a strong Seller’s Market.

At the end of August, The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), who wanted to prevent brokerages from publishing real estate sold price data online. The court’s decision was a big win for the freedom of information, innovation in the real estate industry, and for buyers and sellers like you. But now that the data is available, how do you use price history data in your search?

A question we often hear from real-estate curious people is what does “good value” really mean in real estate and how do you find it? This can be a serious concern if you’re new to the real estate world. Maybe you are in a strong financial position, ready and looking to buy, but you don’t know a whole lot about real estate values, market trends, etc. You’re likely wondering about “good value.”

Everyone wants to find good value when they begin their search to buy property, whether a condo in Toronto or a free-hold house. But good value can be a difficult thing to find. Young buyers at the outset of their real estate investment should be wary of making uneducated and rash decisions that result in bad value purchases. Good value can be difficult to find because it’s not a single, definable thing.

We wanted to talk today about interim occupancy because it’s a term that still confuses many buyers.

Most buyers understand that when you buy a new Toronto condo either pre-construction, during the course of construction or on assignment, there will be a period of time when the building first opens, prior to the building being registered and owners taking title, where they will be required to assume their unit by paying what’s commonly known as “phantom rent” to the builder.

If you’re a millennial, you’ll likely find what you’re about to read interesting and also irritating. According to the Urban Institute, the millennial generation has the lowest rate of homeownership compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. It seems that homeownership is an unrealistic option or expectation for millennials. But how unrealistic is it?

The mindset of 5 to 10 years ago was to rent an apartment in a city like Toronto for 1 or 2 years, bank some savings, and then buy a house or a condo. But that 1-to-2-year renting plan has turned into 5 years, 10 years, or even 15 years for some. And the realistic expectation of purchasing a house or a Toronto condo anytime soon has fallen farther and farther out of sight.