More Condos Units Under Construction In Toronto But Price Is Still A Problem.
More condo developers in Toronto now focusing more on catering for families, but the price is still a headache. With the number of three-bedroom apartments increasing in the last few years, the latest units tend to be very expensive. The average resale price is in the $900,000 range.
Real estate developer firm Elad Canada recently decided to construct two and three bedroom condos (800-1,000 square foot) instead of those for bachelors. One of their towers, The Point, will consist of a three-bedroom apartment on each of the ten upper floors.
Elad’s director of marketing, sales and business development Dror Duchovny explained the reason for all this stating that “A lot of the buyers who are looking for an alternative to ground-related housing are families with kids.”
Elad’s new project at Parkway Forest area has a lot of benefits that buyers with children are looking for. These benefits are easy access to transit, it is close to schools, parks, and other local amenities.
Those in the Greater Toronto Area who have already purchased a starter home in the last decade are now requesting for larger units suitable for a family. Lirad Klingman, director of sales and marketing for Metropia said that “We’re a generation behind.”
They aim at these buyers which are in demand for larger units and have already started projects at Yonge and Eglinton including a townhouse/tower joint venture with Toronto Community Housing at Bedford and Davenport.
The city of Toronto senior planner Annely Zonena says “families are looking for condos because of the cost of housing and work-life balance.” She has supervised new development policies, which were released recently. They introduced the “Growing up” design guidelines and core-area planning regulations, these are meant to motivate construction workers to construct projects for families more.
One example is the new TO Core plan which was implement by city council back in September. This plan gives developers the go ahead to build playgrounds in popular areas if there is not a municipal park close, or designing more interior amenity spaces for all ages.
However, its just families with young children tend to buy or rent existing units particularly older buildings with larger apartments.
The difference in price between an average detached house and average condo grew from $200,000 to $600,000 in the past decade, plus units under construction of two or more bedrooms has dropped slowly. From 67 per cent in the 1990s to 41 per cent presently, as stated by Ryerson City Building Institute/Urbanation survey published last month.
Elad’s Emerald City project, there larger units like three bedroom apartment are being sold at $700,000 to $800,000 range. Right now there are more units in construction by city officials but price is still the main problem. They have Lifetime Developments project scheduled for King and Dufferin, the city has also added a requirement that a quarter of the unit should be two or three bedroom apartments.
