Buoyant real estate buyers in Toronto seem to be sticking with their house hunting even though patio season is now here. Market activity has pulled back slightly, says real estate agent Paul Johnston of Right At Home Realty Inc., and listings have increased. “It’s gone from pandemonium to just a heavy frenzy,” he says. Mr. Johnston likened the early spring to the bread lines in the closing days of the Soviet Union. “A lot of
We asked three GTA realtors which homes they’d show clients with $2.5 million to spend and those with just $250,000. Paul Johnston Crafthouse Address: 50 Page Avenue (near Bayview and Finch) Price $2.48M Specs: 6000 sf detached home with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, media room and two car garage. Why This: “The architecture: it’s contemporary, but not trendy. It’s a respectable modern form that I think will last. And it’s in a community of only
Prospective house buyers in Toronto’s real estate market are often frustrated by their search: Those stolid old brick houses that line the streets are hard to find for less than $600,000, and buyers usually need to compete to get them. High-rise condo units have been steadily shrinking, and the suites coming to market today are often not much bigger than a standard hotel room. As the high-rise condo segment appears to falter and single-family house
LEANNE DELAP Special to The Star It was in 2003 that interior designer Elaine Cecconi found her dream lot. It was more than a little unconventional: There was a haphazard house sort of tacked on to the back of a semi on Dundas St. W., but it sat on a good-sized chunk of property, albeit landlocked by laneways. “I did everything that I tell my clients not to do,” says Cecconi, one half of upscale
Should you change your amenity priorities if you’re condo-hunting in both the suburbs and the downtown core? Agent Paul Johnston (pauljohnston.com) weighs your options. “Condo amenity spaces are super-critical in buildings that are marooned in under-served neighbourhoods. Bring in the theatres and golf simulators and wine-tasting rooms, because they’re likely nowhere nearby. However, when I’m selling a building in Trinity Bellwoods or the Beach, people don’t ask about party rooms. They ask about the best
Globe and Mail. Some interesting trends are emerging as the Greater Toronto Area real estate market transitions from years of red-hot sales fuelled largely by the highrise condo boom. According to the Toronto MLS system, sales were down 11.5 per cent in the first half of March compared to a year before, although the average selling price was up by almost six per cent to $532,102. In February, sales of new detached, semis and townhomes
