If you’re a millennial hoping to build your life and grow a family within the city, you will likely know that Toronto’s condo boom is also in short supply of family friendly units.

While developers have spent the past decade or so building smaller condo units with single folks or investors in mind, a 2017 housing report by Ryerson University and Urbanation points out that developers and city planners need to look at the changing demographic landscape to help guide the housing development of tomorrow. The report notes that as millennials mature and begin to raise families and as baby boomers age and decide to move out of their homes and into condos, the city will require more family-oriented housing units for these groups.

Yet condos are getting taller and smaller overall. Proportionately speaking, developers are building fewer two-bedroom condo units than ever before. The size of so-called family units is shrinking when compared with, say, a three-bedroom condo from a decade or two ago. Many condos buildings are towers, and as such, considered unliveable by some. At the same time, affordability has also taken a hit. For example, in 2007, the price gap between a detached house and average condo was $205,000. In 2017, the difference jumped to over $600,000.

The report titled Bedrooms in the Sky calls for a shift in how developers meet the housing needs of the future and the so-called “missing middle” housing options that fall somewhere in between a detached home and small condo apartments.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“This missing middle includes low-rise walk-ups and stacked townhouses that can infill low-density neighbourhoods predominated by single-family homes,” says the report. “Mid-rise buildings can also help bridge the gap between detached houses and small apartment units. Mid-rise buildings tend to include larger units and can be more attractive to families than high-rise buildings due to their moderate scale and better integration into existing communities.”

At the time of the report’s release in November, 2017, just three per cent of condos slated for development in the GTA were in buildings under five storeys and only seven per cent were for five to eight storeys.

Buildings under six storeys can be built using wood-frame construction, a feature offering developers greater flexibility, according to the report.

Building bedrooms in the sky for growing families may be the way of the future for those who want to own property in the GTA. In order for families to stay put, developers need to make condos that are spacious and family friendly. That requires political will and the recognition that if condo prices continue to climb, good families will be forced to relocate outside the city.

Don’t let the naysayers bring you down. There are still numerous ways in which to invest in real estate in the GTA.

Investments come with certain rewards and risks so it’s important to go in with your eyes wide open. How risky, how accessible and how difficult or easy depends on your resources and your tolerance level.

Given the city’s escalating real estate prices, making a quick buck in the market is not as easy as it once was. But that doesn’t mean earning a profit on your holdings is a product of a bygone era. You likely need to be in it for the long haul.

An ideal scenario would give investors a positive cash flow in which your investment property spikes in value and your dream tenants never squawk about helping you pay off the mortgage. In today’s market that would be the stuff of dreams, however. Investors in Toronto are lucky to break even on their outlay. Your cash flow, which is the amount you keep after collecting rent and paying the expenses on your property, may see you recover your costs. But if you’re looking to fund your kid’s university education or a vacation home this may not be for you.

Let’s look at the types of investments that might be right for you:

Income Property

These are typically detached and semi-detached homes that have been converted into apartments. Houses in the city typically grow in value greater and faster than do condos so that’s an argument in their favour. You should be able to at least balance your expenses against your income and – who knows? – maybe realize a positive cash flow. Of course, know that you will have all the headaches that come with renting out a space, too.

Condos

These investments are hot, hot, hot right now. But condo investing likely means a more long-term proposition. Thanks to the city’s very low vacancy rate, landlords have the upper hand and can pick and choose from a list of preferred tenants. The maintenance and all-round work of keeping a condo in good repair is significantly less than with a freehold house. Their appreciation levels over time are also respectable.

Commercial Property 

These are often also known as mixed use properties as they have a mix of retail, office and apartment space. A big reason to invest in these properties centres on earnings, which are generally higher than that of residential buildings. Other bonuses include the pride retail and commercial business operators take in their businesses. The leases you negotiate with commercial tenants can be attractive, too, as the onus is often on the tenant, and not the landlord, to pay the expenses associated with the space. On the down side, there is more work involved with managing a commercial property, you will likely need more upfront funds for your investment than with a residential property and there is a higher liability risk as more people will be accessing the property due to its commercial focus.

Young families hamstrung by the lack of affordability within the city’s freehold housing market are looking to condos to raise their children in more affordable living spaces.

For the estimated 13 per cent of Toronto families that often means family-sized or three-bedroom condos. But good luck finding them. Many of today’s newer condos comprise some pretty un-family friendly traits: high carrying costs, meagre layouts and small quarters. As a result, these units end up being rented by students or young professionals who share the costs with their roommates.

According to Bedrooms in the Sky, a 2017 report by Ryerson University and Urbanation, Toronto may be experiencing a condo boom but it is not building enough family-friendly condos to meet demand. Even though condo construction is geared toward one-bedroom units, developers are building fewer two-bedroom units proportionately than ever before. Urbanation, a high-rise condo development tracking consultancy, says only 38 per cent of condos in development in November 2017 were two bedrooms and larger.

That condo developments are enjoying a boom period is without question. Census data shows that 129,000 of Toronto’s families lived in condos in 2016, up 8.9 per cent from 118,000 in 2011, and well above the national average of 8.4 per cent.

But Toronto doesn’t lay claim to the highest number of condo dwellers. In Vancouver more than 30 per cent of the population lives in condos, this, according to the CBC, is far and away the highest percentage in the country. In Calgary, nearly 22 per cent of residents call condos home, followed by Abbotsford-Mission, Kelowna and Toronto, all of which have more than one out of every five households living in a condominium.

The problem, many say, comes down to simple economics. Large, family-sized condos aren’t favoured by developers because it’s difficult to keep them reasonably priced. They also earn more per square foot on smaller condo units.

The report by Ryerson and Urbanation states that there may be some hope for family-friendly condo units of 3+ bedrooms as they are trending upwards, however, these dwellings generally have a resale price of more than $900,000, making them far from affordable.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The report’s authors warn that if these construction trends continue, the number of family-friendly housing units available in neighbourhoods close to transit, school and other services will continue to decrease, likely along with affordability.

Toronto is finally poised to embrace laneway housing.

The move to approve laneway houses across the old City of Toronto has been hard fought and a long time in the making. In 2006, the city rejected laneway housing imposing strict conditions that virtually made it impossible for most homeowners to build a separate dwelling in their back alley.

But the bull real estate market of recent years, which resulted in a housing crisis in terms of affordability, is credited with transforming the thinking on laneway housing and finally opening city planners’ eyes to creative housing alternatives.

Only a handful of examples of these secondary suites exist in the city now. The directive, if approved by council, means about 250 kilometres of Toronto laneways could be used as possible laneway housing projects. Currently, these back lanes are lined mostly with garages but under the new rules, they could be replaced by houses up to two-storeys high.

In early June, the Toronto East York Community Council voted to amend the city’s Official Plan and Zoning By-Law to allow laneway suites in Toronto and East York. The issue must now be considered by the full Toronto council.

A laneway house is a small dwelling at the back of a residential lot that is detached from the main house. Its services such as water, electricity, garbage and mail all come from the front street that the primary house is on, not the laneway. Laneway homes can be used as residences for family members or as rental units. These dwellings cannot be severed and sold separate from the main house, however.

The advantages to laneway housing are numerous: it increases the quality of affordable rental housing, it lets people stay in pretty, well-established and low-rise neighbourhoods, it intensifies neighbourhoods and makes urban lanes more green, liveable and safe, it allows people to live near where they work, shop and play and they provides living space for household members at different age and stages of life.

Since 2009, Vancouver has been home to over 500 laneway homes. Ottawa has recently launched a laneway housing policy and Regina is close to doing so also.

When the days are at their longest, warmest and most sun-drenched, we often feel like taking it easy.

This is the time to sit on the verandah with a tall glass of ice tea, or maybe it’s a good time to putter around your yard, extracting the odd weed and deciding what perennials need to be divided. The heat seems to slow us down a notch and force us to focus on the minutiae of life. If you’re a proponent of meditation, gurus might say it’s an ideal time to live in the moment.

Unfortunately, living in the now is not how most of us buy and sell houses. And while many think summer is a time for chilling, the commerce of everyday life often gets in the way. If you’re thinking of holding off the sale or purchase of a home until the fall, you may want to think again.

Did you know that estimates peg home sales during summer at somewhere between 30 and 40 per cent?  There are a number of reasons for this. The fact that these reasons all converge in summer is likely why. Let’s take a look:

Mild Weather

Say what you will about the weather but it’s a big factor in how we behave. Warm temperatures generally mean we’re out and about much more, possibly taking holidays or just enjoying the heat from our back patio.

If you’re taking vacation during the summer months, this gives you more time to house hunt or to get your home ready for the real estate market. If your windows need washing and your hallway could use a fresh coat of paint, now is the time to do it. If you can’t take holidays during June, July or August, you can at least take advantage of the long weekends summer offers to get some of these chores out of the way.

Boost curb appeal

Houses and neighbourhoods, in general, look most attractive in summer. Blossoms are in full bloom, trees are lush and full and lawns are green. Make sure you keep shrubs and bushes trimmed, weeds at bay and your windows washed. You might want to place some inviting furniture on your porch or a decorative wreath on your front door. This makes potential buyers feel more welcome and at ease.

Ideal time for moving 

For families with school-age children, summertime is the easiest and most convenient time to move. But it may also be a good time to hunt for a house or to sell one.  While children aren’t the main decision makers in a household, their opinions do count so it stands to reason that they should attend showings and open houses. On the flip side, if selling your house in summer, perhaps your kids can help you get your house ready for showings? Give them age-appropriate jobs like sweeping the walkway or straightening the pillows on the sofa. Remember details count and children can appreciate the finer points.

Now that your heart is set on purchasing a condo you need to decide if you want to buy resale or one that hasn’t yet gotten off the ground.

Each has their pros and cons. What you select probably depends on your personality. So let’s examine both.

Resale

I can see it 

This option allows you to visualize what you are buying up close and personal. No guessing, no trying to picture yourself walking through the condo based on a 3-D rendering and wondering if you will truly like the layout, space and design elements. Same goes for the neighbourhood. You will get a sense of the kind of commercial activity and green spaces currently in your area as opposed to projecting possibilities with a pre-construction condo that can take years to materialize.

Waiting Game 

With a resale condo, you can move in right away or as soon as you close so there is little waiting, if at all. This is perfect for the patiently challenged among us.

Math Made Easy 

Calculations are a breeze as your mortgage is pre-approved and you can then figure out your monthly payments so you know what you’re dealing with.

Room to Breathe 

Older resale condo units typically contain more square footage in terms of living and storage space. If size matters to you, this may be a factor worth considering.

Renovation Expenses 

Odds are if you unit was lived in for any length of time, you may want to invest in some home renovations and repairs.

Pre-Construction

It’s Tailor-made 

One of the big benefits to buying a condo before it’s built is that you can customize to your heart’s content. Being able to select that bamboo flooring you’ve always loved or certain appliances and cabinetry can really add to the charm of buying this way.

Save Your Pennies 

Pre-construction gives you more time to save for your condo. This is because you pay the builder a number of payments which total a deposit in the neighbourhood of 20 to 25 per cent of the purchase price.

Appreciation 

There are no guarantees, of course, but often the value of your condo increases from when you buy it to when you actually move in.

Delays

It’s not uncommon to experience setbacks that impede the progression of construction so being sure you have a stable place to hang your hat as your condo is being built is important.

What are the Fees? 

With pre-construction you don’t know what your maintenance fees and property taxes will be. Of course, you can guess but they will likely change by the time your building is ready. Also, pre-construction units are subject to HST.

Dust, Dirt & Chaos 

You might have the keys to your unit, but the builder still have lots of work to do. If you don’t mind the commotion and the mess and can handle living in a condo that still needs some tweaking, this may not be a problem for you.

Sources: www.sunlife.ca, www.baystreetblog.com, www.lowestrates.ca

There are a million considerations to mull over before deciding to buy a condo. One you should not neglect centres on your furry and feathered friends and how warmly they’ll be welcomed, if at all, in your new digs.

Not all condominium corporations love domesticated animals equally. So if bringing your four-legged friend or pet turtle with you is a priority that is definitely something you need to discuss with your realtor, who should be able to advise you. If they can’t or won’t, it’s time to get a new agent.

At Freeman Real Estate, where we encourage staff to bring their pets to work, we’ve even dedicated part of our website to finding the perfect pet-friendly Toronto Condo. We know the public loves their pets and will go to great lengths to accommodate them. In fact, a CBC.ca report from 2017 cited a city estimate that there are between four to eight pets living on every high-rise floor in the city.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The thing to know is that every condo building varies in its rules about pets with some banning them altogether. In order to get the low-down on a particular building you need something called a condo status certificate which outlines the dos and don’ts of your condo. Your real-estate agent may already have copies of the certificates but if not you can get them for a small fee.

So what kind of regulations do condo boards typically have? They vary and cover a wide assortment of items. More common restrictions include rules about leashing pets and ensuring that they are registered and guidelines as to how many pets you can have in your unit and what size and weight your pets can be. There are even some that govern the type of pet so goats or chickens are forbidden because they would be deemed to be livestock.

If you’re something of a rebel and you think the condo board members will fall in love with your 90-kilo English Mastiff and disregard their weight restrictions, think again. Unless you can prove that your pet is with you for medical reasons (as recognized by the Human Rights Code), you may be in for a bitter and pricey fight. In 2015, The Toronto Star reported on a case that ended when the dog was ordered to be removed from the condo. The judge awarded $47,000 in court costs to the condo corporation “which can be collected by way of a lien” against the condo unit in question. The legal costs incurred by the condo dwellers could have easily doubled their bill, the story reported. They argued that their dog, Peaches, should be permitted despite weighing 15 pounds more than what the bylaws allowed.

It just goes to show you that it’s important to be mindful of the rules. Besides there are plenty of GTA condos that are very pet friendly, offering a host of amenities such as nearby parks, pet-washing stations and pet spas.

Sources: www.torontostar.ca, www.zoocasa.com, www.cbc.ca

A spate of recent news reports have suggested that Canada’s seniors and retirees would be better off to rent their living space rather than to own it.

Proponents say there are a lot of freedoms that come with renting: it frees up your finances and your time from all of the indoor and outdoor maintenance that comes with owning a home. The other perhaps equally big benefit is the amount of equity homeowners can have access to upon selling.

Using that equity to pay for rent and some of life’s pursuits such as travel, cars and dining out are an added bonus. Oftentimes, senior homeowners might have enough equity stashed away that the returns on their invested funds nicely cover the cost of rent.

According to Moneysense.ca, 68 per cent of Canadians are homeowners with the rate rising as people age. The home ownership rate peaks to 75 per cent at about age 65. Rates level off until age 75, where they begin to decline.

But being a renter isn’t all fun and games. As a tenant, you have far less control than an owner about such pursuits as decorating, remodelling and owning pets. Growing accustomed to that loss of control can be frustrating and hard to handle, especially for someone who has owned their own home most of their adult life.

And being a cash-poor retiree whose assets are largely tied up their home’s equity isn’t the doom-and-gloom scenario it once was. With home equity lines of credit and reverse mortgages, seniors can tap into their home’s equity so they can enjoy the kind of lifestyle they’ve come to expect.

The other advantage is that your fixed housing costs likely won’t rise, unlike your rent. This, of course, does not hold true for property taxes and maintenance costs but it will for your mortgage especially if your rate is fixed. In fact, many senior homeowners live mortgage free so mortgage payments aren’t even an issue.

If you’re still uncertain and your decision comes down to dollars and cents, do the math. For buying, factor in mortgage costs, property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. Compare those numbers to rents in the area you’re interested in.  Use online websites to assess the rate increases that come with renting and be sure to include that in your calculations.

In the end, there really is no right or wrong answer to renting versus buying. Weigh the pros and cons of each and decide which suits you better.

Take a breather, Toronto. Now more people can afford to buy real estate.

That’s right. With the number of residential home sales down considerably and selling prices lagging behind the record highs of 2017, buyers should be able to gain back a bit more control in Toronto’s formerly unruly real estate market.

The Toronto Real Estate Board reported that the number of Toronto area homes that sold in February was down 35 per cent from the previous February. Perhaps more importantly, the prices of homes also dropped, though not as significantly. The average selling price of all residential sales fell by 12.4 per cent to $767,818.

Rising interest rates, a new financial stress test for buyers and restrictions on foreign buyers have clearly all impacted the GTA’s market. But a more moderate real estate market is not something we should be afraid of. In fact, as real estate professionals with nearly a half-century of experience under our belts, we think a less volatile market than what we’ve been experiencing recently is a good thing.

A less explosive market means buyers and sellers are more evenly split when it comes to their negotiating clout. As a nation of home owners, many of us grew up thinking we would simply own a home one day. But recent activity in Vancouver and Toronto has made that dream something of a fairy tale for some.

A more controlled market means bidding wars would lose their fierceness and prices would be more in line with actual market value. It means buyers wouldn’t get caught up in overpaying for subpar inventory just so they can dip their toe in the market. It means buyers can make purchasing decisions based on sound judgement and request important conditions on offers. It means sellers no longer become ensnared in the prospect of making a quick buck only to realize they have to pay more to make a lateral move.

A temperate market won’t make you rich overnight but it sure helps you curb your blood pressure.  And in the end, isn’t that the kind of balance we’re all looking for?

Condos often fit the bill where other housing is either too large, too expensive, too far from the action and often, for many, too much work.

That the Toronto condo market is having a moment right now makes sense. With an average selling price of just over $500,000, condos are a very affordable option for buyers seeking to own their own living space.

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), approximately half of those hunting for a house in the city are comprised of first-time home buyers. It can be assumed then that these buyers are typically younger and, as such, possess less money and earnings to carry a single-family home in the million-dollar range. Condos are the perfect entry point to owning real estate in Toronto. As you pay off your mortgage, the value of your investment goes up, allowing you to eventually use your increased capital to buy a larger home or perhaps fund a vacation home or some other such comfort.

The average selling price for condos in the city was $510,206 in the third quarter of 2017, up by nearly 23 per cent compared to the average price of $415,894 that condos sold for during the same period a year earlier.

“The condominium apartment market segment has exhibited the strongest average rates of price growth since the spring, relative to other major market segments,” says TREB president Tim Syrianos. “Competition between buyers remains strong, as listings remain below last year’s very constrained levels.”

Syrianos also touched on the fact that the condominium apartment housing market is not protected from the ravages of a listings shortage. And this factor is also likely driving the condo market.

According to TREB, there were 5,684 condominium apartment sales reported through the MLS system in the third quarter of 2017. This was down from 7,991 sales reported during the same period in 2016.

New condominium apartment listings were also down on a year-over-year basis by 10 per cent to 9,845 in the third quarter of 2017 compared to 10,967 in 2016.

A consumer poll taken for TREB by Ipsos last spring indicated more interest in buying condos.

“Condominium apartments will likely account for a greater share of home sales as we move forward,” says Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis. “With this in mind, it is not surprising that we have continued to see robust price growth, as demand has remained strong relative to available listings.”

As with any type of housing, there are issues with these vertical homes, but if you’re looking for a space that is centrally located, low-maintenance and affordable, condos can’t be beat.

See Freeman Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage – Condos to learn more about our condo listings.