Toronto Condo and Real Estate Blog

Those who want to be left alone to follow their own desires should look elsewhere

Excerpt from an article by Ellen Roseman - Toronto Star

Living in a Toronto condo requires flexibility, co-operation and compromise — words you don’t see often in developers’ ads.

Moving into a Toronto condo development means obeying its rules, even if you disagree with them. These rules make sense in terms of avoiding conflicts among people trying to live closely and peacefully together.

“If tenancies of under six months are permissible, you risk buying into a building that is really just a disguised hotel,” says Keith Bricknell, owner of a downtown Toronto condo.

This is an extra dimension you rarely hear about when you move into a Toronto condo. You learn about it through experience.You will be governed by a condo corporation, which can pass bylaws of all kinds. It has the power to raise your monthly fees and levy a special assessment for upgrades.

Who’s on the condo board, you ask. What experience do they have in putting together budgets and managing real estate?

You may not want to participate on the condo board, but you still have to abide by its decisions.

“The biggest appeal of Toronto condo living,” says Bruce Cohen, a former owner, “is freedom from worry. Others do the maintenance and property management.

“But this creates a sense of apathy that makes it easy for small well-organized groups to gain control of condo boards. Their tastes and priorities may not jibe with yours.”

Hassan Altaf, a chartered accountant, does annual audits for condo boards. He recently graduated from the first-ever governance program for non-profit directors at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto.

“The biggest appeal of condo living is freedom from worry,” Bruce Cohen, former Toronto condo owner.

Financial literacy is a common failing, he says. Many condo directors don’t understand budgets and how to prepare them.

Directors of a condominium corporation should understand they’re legally liable for what they sign. They should not simply approve, or rubber stamp, what’s placed in front of them.What does it take to be a condo director? How do you get prepared?

Denise Lash, a condo lawyer with Miller Thomson LLP, is often asked for advice about what’s required. She starts with the common complaints from unit owners.

So, what makes a good president? Lash says four qualities are essential:

1. The ability to make decisions and stand by them.
2. The ability to take charge and make things happen, even when difficult or unpleasant issues are involved.
3. The ability to place the corporation’s interests ahead of any personal issues or gain.
4. The ability to gain the trust of the other board members and the unit owners.

There’s no formal training required to become a condo director or president of a condo board.However, the Canadian Condominium Institute (http://www.cci.ca) offers basic and advanced courses in Toronto.

Read the full article

———————————————————————————

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information

If you had purchased a Toronto area home at the beginning of the year, what neighbourhood would have given you the best return on your investment?While prices for detached houses rose on average 5% in the first half of the year, some neighbourhoods have seen a much more significant appreciation. In contrast to the trend of higher returns in downtown Toronto, the best returns this year are in neighbourhoods outside the core.

“Downtown isn’t the centre of the universe any longer,” said Christine Martysiewicz. “Prices are such that people are now looking at points east, west and north to get more home and lot size for the dollar.”

Last year about half of detached homes reporting double-digit price increases were in downtown Toronto. This year increases are more evenly spread across the 63 districts surveyed.

One big reason is that the average price for a detached home downtown has hit a daunting $830,000.

Homeowners are now looking at areas such as the Scarborough Bluffs. The Bluffs is the top-performing area for the first half of the year, with prices for a detached home climbing 21.2% to $360,175. In second place was the nearby Beaches with values up 19.6% to $622,042.

The survey comes on the heels of a report yesterday by the Canadian Real Estate Association that shows the first half of the year with a record amount of activity in sales of existing homes.

A new annual record is expected to be set this year with 186,177 units sold in the first six months, up 3.6% from 2005, already a record year. With higher interest rates putting a crimp on affordability, the association expects sales to be about 1% more than 2005 by year end.

Toronto, which has a more mature housing market, saw activity increase by a more moderate 2.5% during the first half. More listings in the Toronto real estate market should give some relief to buyers who can expect a more temperate market with more modest price increases.

That’s certainly the case in Toronto, where the Swansea, South Parkdale and Roncesvalles communities saw prices appreciate by 19.25% to $640,132. The Bayview Village area, with large lot sizes and available bungalows, saw a jump of 17.7% to $602,211. The Lawrence Park area, popular with the financial community who want a family-friendly neighbourhood close to Bay St., saw a jump of 17.6% to a prohibitive $1,132,410 for the average detached home.With detached homes becoming less affordable, buyers have increasingly turned to Toronto condos in order to get a foothold in choice locations.

The top return for the first half of the year for condominiums is in the Yorkville-Annex area where condos have climbed 16%. The average price in this area is now a substantial $516,729 - the highest average price for a condo in the city.

In second place is the more affordably priced west end of Humber Summit, which saw prices increase by 14% to $173,238. Lawrence Park again made the top five with a 10.6% increase to $327,525.

———————————————————————————

Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information

Toronto - Nearly one half (45%) of all new home sales in Greater Toronto in May were high-rise condominium apartment suites, the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association revealed.

Although condo and total sales were down from May, 2005, Toronto condos continue to grow in popularity with home buyers, primarily because of their relative affordability compared with low-rise single and semi-detached homes and townhomes.

According to RealNet Canada Inc., the independent source of market information for the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association, Toronto condos have accounted for 41 per cent of all new home sales through the first five months of the year.

“It is ironic that on the day the provincial government released its growth plan calling for 40 per cent intensification in each municipality by 2015, we are already there, albeit on a region-wide average basis,” said GTHBA executive vice president Stephen Dupuis.

Overall there were 3,464 new homes and condos sold in the GTA in May, 2006, down 24 per cent over May 2005. “Demand continues to be strong for new homes but land supply and infrastructure constraints are finally catching up to the building industry,” Dupuis noted.

“York region is suffering from a shortage of sewer capacity resulting in Richmond Hill, for example, declaring that it will not be able to issue building permits for five years beginning next year. Peel region has very few large, active sites remaining,” Dupuis added.

The GTA new home price index rose to $396,431 for low-rise homes and $311,133 for high-rise apartments.

The index is essentially the average asking price of all the remaining new homes and Toronto condos currently available for sale, as calculated by RealNet Canada Inc., the GTHBA’s independent source of new home market information.

The new home price index is based on currently available new home offerings, weighted by remaining inventory, for projects of 15 or more units, excluding ultra-luxury product across the GTA.

The top five municipalities in the GTA for May were Toronto, 1380; Brampton, 380; Mississauga, 312; Vaughan, 217; and Markham, 190.

With more than 1,400 members, the GTHBA is the voice of the residential construction industry in the Greater Toronto Area. Established in 1921, the association is comprised of land developers, home builders, professional renovation contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers, service, professional and financial firms. We are proudly affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders’ Associations.