Your New Home Comes in a Variety of Types and Styles
by Marcia Luke - New Dream Homes and Condos Magazine
Whether you’re purchasing a home for the first time, upgrading, downsizing, or changing your lifestyle, with the multitude of housing types available today, you’re sure to find something to suit your needs. New homes really do come in all shapes and sizes, detached or linked, live/work, house or apartment, one floor or many.
But with all of these choices, how do you possibly choose? By knowing all of the differences, options, and even trends, you can make your choice easier and still find the right home.
For instance, in a live/work space, you’ll want to pay careful attention to the number and location of phone or cable outlets, for Internet, phone lines, and fax. Will you have enough outlets for the equipment you plan to use? What kind of service is offered in the area? Will you be able to use the beautiful corner desk that you bought last year?
If you’re interested in purchasing a loft, you’ll want to carefully consider the square footage. The high ceilings and open concept make it look bigger than it actually is, so carefully plan out how you’re going to furnish the space. Is your couch going to fit? Will you need custom drapes or blinds to cover the huge windows? Is the loft built on an existing foundation—this will affect its warranty coverage by Tarion.
Unfortunately, Tarion only covers new homes, including the foundation. Is this an issue? Toronto Building has a good idea of what’s happening in residential development; they have their eyes and ears on all projects across the city.
Ann Borooah, Chief Building Official and Executive Director for Toronto Building, says “we’ve had pretty sustained levels of construction… volumes have been steady and high, due to high-rise developments.” Based on planning approvals and sales information from this year, Borooah indicates that this trend will continue into 2007.
It seems that the market really does respond to the needs of the buyer, but also the many changes in the surrounding environment, like the availability of land or the need for energy efficiency. Different developments attract different buyers and high-density developments seem to be the future of residential building.
John Humphries, Program Manager and Technical Advisor to the Chief Building Official and Borooah’s colleague, describes some of the initiatives and unique uses of land in residential development. Industrial buildings are being converted into lofts and, Humphries says, “lofts are combined with row housing to maximize the use of the space.”
There’s a trend toward row housing mixed with single-family homes where the townhouses are built around the perimeter to define the development, explains Humphries. Condos in downtown Toronto are popular with first-time buyers, but also a second market of individuals that are upgrading or moving deeper into downtown and spending more money.
There are also more interesting uses of land, like the old Greenwood Raceway, at the junction of Kingston Road and Queen Street East. Greenwood was replaced by residential and commercial developments, with a mix of housing all on one site as well as small commercial spaces, like a miniature community. In the last five years or so, live/work towns have been developed where the ground floor is ‘work’/commercial space and the unit portion is at the back or above the commercial space.
“In 2005, Toronto Building issued about 35,000 building permits including renovations.” Humphries explains that this number includes all types of development, such as commercial, industrial, residential, etc. “There’s a slow down coming up [in residential development]. We’ll see more commercial buildings and hotels like the Ritz and Trump, also institutional and cultural projects, like opera houses. Interest rates are going up and inventory is catching up [to demand] so it’s slowing.”
What’s the Difference?
Below are some of the types of new homes available throughout the GTA—use this as your starting point for deciding what shape and size fits you best!
Condominium: This is usually a unit in a high-rise building where you share common elements, like the lobby, laundry facilities, or exercise room, with the other owners in the building. For this reason, in addition to purchasing your condo unit, you pay a monthly condo fee to the condominium corporation for the maintenance and repair of these common spaces. The condominium corporation governs the building and property as a whole.
Condo townhouse: A townhouse is a row of housing where each unit is linked completely to the next. These are generally low-rise developments and units are stacked one above the other. With a condo townhome, there are also condo fees and common elements as explained above.
Freehold townhouse: This is the same as a condo townhome, except that there are no condo fees. You simply arrange with your neighbours to take care of the grass, fencing, etc. and you own only your unit.
Semi-detached: Semi-detached houses are linked by an entire side of the house, a portion of the house, or by the foundation/basement to varying degrees. Semi-detached houses are usually paired, so you have only one house joined to your own.
Singe-family/detached: These homes are built on their own away from other homes and have their own foundation.
Loft: An apartment style home which has been modified from a converted industrial building or built new to appear this way. Lofts have high ceilings, exposed pipes, cement pillars, large windows, and very open concept design. If the foundation of this building is from an existing building, then the units and the building are not covered by the Tarion New Home Warranty.
Live/work: This is a home where a separate space on the ground floor has been designed for use as commercial space. In this way, the residents can live and work in the same building, but still maintain a professional appearance.
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