Toronto Real Estate News: The Weir Team Examines the Continuing Rush to Buy a Detached House in Toronto
The Weir Team works with more and more Toronto and Durham Region real estate buyers looking to purchase their first, second or even third home all the GTA including Pickering, Ajax and Whitby.
While every buyer’s budget is always an important aspect, Cameron Weir and Scott Hanton are meeting many new GTA real estate clients who are only looking for one thing: A detached house. We’ve been witnessing crazy demand and highly emotional bidding wars for even the simplest of houses that appear to have what many savvy real estate buyers are calling “potential value” and “future value”.
The population of the Greater Toronto Area is expected to increase from 6.5 million in 2013 to 9.4 million in 2041. Within the GTA, Toronto’s population is projected to rise from 2.77 million in 2013 to 3.64 million in 2041, an increase of 31.3 per cent. Growth in the other census divisions of the GTA (Durham, Halton, Peel and York) will be significantly faster than the Ontario average, with the addition of almost 2.1 million people to the suburban GTA. (Source: Ontario Ministry of Finance).
There’s no doubt about it. Since any available downtown land is being allocated to condominium towers, detached homes in downtown Toronto and outlying neighbourhoods are going to become a luxury. With millions of new residents cramming into condos or apartments and sharing thin walls with millions of complete strangers, the appeal of having your own house on your own land at a convenient location is pretty obvious. While urban density is important for numerous reasons, many property buyers are seeing the value of grabbing a detached house now while they can. And the closer you get to downtown Toronto, the crazier the competition.
Recently, two streets that The Weir Team sells a lot of houses on, witnessed a mad dash to grab two detached houses. On Hiawatha Road in Leslieville, a renovated 2 storey, 3 bedroom house listed for a “reasonable” $789,000 sold for a whopping $921,000. Even more startling: a modest 3 bedroom bungalow on Woodfield Road asking $749,900 sold for a whopping $950,000. That’s right. A bungalow.
The magic word is quickly becoming “detached”. This factor can spark fierce bidding wars and if you’re sitting pretty in a downtown detached house thinking about selling you may want to consider “cashing in”, especially if you’ve been contemplating a move to a quieter area or a larger house up north.
In all of Toronto in one week, according to MLS, 189 detached houses were sold (less than $1,500,000). The average selling price for those detached homes was $836,612. During the same time period only 86 semi-detached or rowhouses were sold at an average selling price of $700,958. More buyers are willing to pay considerable more to not have to share walls with their neighbours.
The Weir Team has its fingers on the pulse of the real estate market all across Toronto and the GTA. We’re proud to work amongst the best realtors in Durham Region, Pickering, Ajax, Leslieville, East York, Riverdale and with anyone looking to hire top realtors to net as much profit as possible.
Here’s to an excellent 2016 for Toronto and GTA real estate.
Written by Scott Hanton, Real Estate Broker for The Weir Team
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