Excerpted from The Globe and Mail
House hunting in Toronto? Here’s a few hidden gems....
House hunting in Toronto? Here’s a few hidden gems....
Carolyn Ireland
Toronto— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published
Last updated
How do buyers get a toehold in the most aggressive real estate market in the country?
By seeking out the little-known slivers where house price gains haven’t kept pace with the breakneck pace set in the rest of the city.
That appears to have been the strategy employed by many people bent on buying in Toronto in the first quarter of 2012.
But April’s numbers so far suggest a slight cool down from the blistering pace set in the first months of the year.
In the first half of this month, sales climbed seven per cent compared with the first two weeks of April, 2011. The average price in the Greater Toronto Area rose five per cent in the same period compared with the same time last year, according to data from the Toronto Real Estate Board.
The average price in the GTA jumped about 10 per cent in March compared with the same month last year, while sales increased eight per cent in the same period.
Prices were pushed higher by the combination of tight listings and low interest rates in the first three months of the year, says John Pasalis, broker at Realosophy Realty Inc.
Mr. Pasalis adds that the bidding wars that astounded observers in February are a little more tame these days. “Now you might have three to eight offers instead of 15 to 20.”
As usual, more listings have come onto the market with the arrival of spring blossoms, while the competition has also eased up because nearly 10,000 parties dropped out of the race after buying a house or condo in March.
Mr. Pasalis says some of the successful buyers set their sights on neighbourhoods that have been overlooked in the past. He picks out hot spots by looking at the number of houses that sold over the asking price, which is a good indication that the seller received multiple offers.
In Wallace-Emerson, for example, near Dovercourt and Bloor, 65 per cent of houses sold for more than the asking price, which is more than double the city average. The average list price, meanwhile, is about $485,000 compared with just under $507,00 overall for the city.
That suggests to Mr. Pasalis that first-time buyers and those looking to move to a house from a condo but who still want to live downtown were looking to the up-and-cominghood for deals.
“It’s one of the only pockets on the subway line that is still affordable.”
Similarly, Woodbine-Lumsden in Toronto’s east end saw prices appreciate of 21 per cent in the quarter compared with the first quarter of 2011. The niche, close to the eastern boundary of East York, has an average house price of $462,000 and seven out of 10 properties sold over asking, says Mr. Pasalis.
“Both of these neighbourhoods are on the outer edges of the core.”
Farther north, low-profile Park Woods is gaining in popularity. Standing between Lawrence and York Mills and just east of the Don Valley Parkway, the community offers buyers the possibility of a detached house, large lot and private drive for between $600,000 and $700,000.
As a real estate agent, Mr. Pasalis says he often points buyers towards neighbourhoods they might not have thought of in the past.
Prices that seem to rise unchecked draw new waves of house hunters who in turn are forced to become increasingly creative in their search.
But a Queen’s University professor cautions that the fortunes of the Toronto real estate market could be in for a swift reversal in a few years.
John Andrew, director of the Queen’s Real Estate Roundtable, says he’s worried about the number of towers going up in the city.
“The amount of condo building going on right now is staggering. They’re going to overshoot the market,” he says of the building industry.
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