Toronto condos for sale

A History Of Toronto Condos

The city of Toronto is an eclectic collection of turn of the century neighbourhoods, newly developed master planned villages, and restored and gentrified communities. With a total of 158 unique neighbourhoods, the city is bustling with culture and character. Founded officially in 1834, the city of Toronto has seen an evolution from colonialism to the post war industrial revolution, and subsequent metropolis building to the creation of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). During this evolution, settlers from all over the world have settled in the City of Toronto and its neighbouring suburbs. Approximately 34% of immigrants to Canada settle in the GTA of which the majority settle in the city of Toronto. One of Canada’s notable initiatives is to support immigration levels of between 380,000 to 400,000 skilled labour immigrants per year of which one third will settle in the GTA. This has made Toronto a popular destination for new immigrants and has attracted skilled labour and professionals from all over the world. In turn Toronto has developed several neighbourhoods that showcase our international flavour including:  Chinatown, Corso Italia, Koreatown, Little Jamaica, Little India, Greektown and Portugal Village. Toronto’s diversity is best showcased in our cities yearly international festivals. Some of the larger cultural festivals in the city include:

Taste of the Danforth

Caribana

Salsa On St. Clair

Other notable yearly festivals in Toronto include:

TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)

Pride Toronto

Luminato Festival

Nuit Blanche

Toronto Jazz Festival

Dreams Festival

Summerlicious

Honda Indy

Beaches International Jazz Festival

JFL Comedy Festival

Toronto Oktoberfest

Cavalcade Of Lights

The Toronto Light Festival

Toronto Landmarks and Amenities

CN Tower

Scotiabank Centre

Museums:  Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Art Gallery Of Ontario (AGO), Aga Khan Museum

The Distillery District

St Lawrence Market

Toronto Eaton Centre

Transportation:  Union Station, Yonge and Bloor Subway Lines, QEW, 401, 404, 403.

Gooderham Building

Theatres:  Roy Thomson Hall, Royal Alexandra Theatre, Princess of Wales Theatre

Casa Loma

Beaches:  Sugar Beach, Woodbine Beach, Scarborough Bluffs, Hanlan’s Point

Why Buy A Condo In Toronto?

As the fastest growing city in North America (2021) and 13th ranked city in the world according to the Resonance Consultancy’s World Best Cities 2021 report. Some of the reasons Toronto is seen as a world class metropolitan city include it’s diversity, education metrics, finance and commerce opportunities, strong startup and tech culture, access to a diverse pool of amenities, proximity to cultural centre’s (museum’s, theatres, performance arena’s), and last but not least performance of real estate as an asset class. Once the world’s best kept secret, the cat is out of the bag and Toronto is now universally recognized as one of the best cities to invest in real estate as an asset class. 

Here below you will find a chart we created to track and highlight the Global Price Per Square Foot Rankings. One thing you can deduce by the rankings is that Toronto is an international city and the demand is strong for housing with Toronto condos averaging $1,063/square foot and ranked 22nd in the world and still underpriced by comparison when contrasting with major international cities. 

There have been a lot of comparisons to New York in terms of the Toronto condo market and its development, growth and trajectory. There has been a notable spike in new developments within the downtown Toronto core specifically, as well as the North York city centre, Humber Bay Shores and several other high density pockets within the city. In total there are now more than 2,000 registered condominiums in Toronto comprising sky-rises, low rise condominiums, hotel condominiums, commercial retail condominiums, hard loft conversions and everything in between. Some notable sky-rise condos in Toronto include:  

Maple Leaf Square – 55-65 Bremner Boulevard

Beyond The Sea – 2230-2240 Lake Shore Boulevard, 15 Legion Road

300 Front Street West

Ice Condos – 12-14 York Street

One Bloor – 1 Bloor Street East

Some of the most exciting low-rise condos in Toronto include:

Imperial Square – 311 Richmond Street East

Fashion House – 461 Adelaide Street West, 560 King Street West

Twenty Niagara – 20 Niagara Street

Five Hundred Wellington – 500 Wellington Street West

DNA Condos – 1 Shaw Street, 1005 King Street West, 1030 King Street West

Some of the most exciting hotel condominiums in Toronto include:

Shangri-La Condo Toronto – 180 University Avenue

Bisha Residences – 88 Blue Jays Way

Ritz Carlton Residences Toronto – 183 Wellington Street West

Four Seasons Private Residences – 55 Scollard Street

Some of the most exciting hard lofts in Toronto include:

Candy Factory Lofts – 993 Queen Street West

Tip Top Lofts – 637 Lake Shore Boulevard West

Massey Harris Lofts – 915 King Street West

What are the Toronto condo markets prospects for growth?

It’s not difficult to see why Toronto condos have presented great value to both end users and investors alike. Toronto’s condo market appears to be poised for explosive growth in the 2020’s with increasing interest from both domestic buyers and foreign investors alike. Some of the leading indicators we can use to establish the markets growth potential include the following:

Low unemployment levels and Fortune 500 companies setting up headquarters in Toronto. 

Yearly increases in immigration levels for Toronto.

Top tier post secondary education attracting foreign students.

Scarcity of housing is breedIng competition which in turn is driving the growth and price appreciation.

Another major catalyst will be the affordability gap between freehold homes and condos. As the median price of freehold homes continues to increase at a faster rate than condos, there comes a point where purchasing a freehold home for the average dual income family becomes unaffordable. As the delta between the two grows, the value proposition of purchasing a condo versus a freehold home improves. As you will see below the Toronto Housing Price Multiplier | Freehold Detached vs: Condos is trending toward 2.7 which is indicating potentially parabolic growth in the Toronto condo prices. 

The Toronto market is very healthy and it’s future prospects are bright with a bevy of high profile pre construction projects planned and already under development. 

Toronto’s Most Exciting Neighbourhoods

With 158 unique neighbourhoods and counting, there is no shortage of standout neighbourhoods in Toronto, but we’ve done our best to shortlist some of our favourites.

King West – Easily the most exciting neighbourhood in Toronto. King West is considered Toronto’s bridge between commerce and culture. Minutes from the Financial District and entertainment at your doorstep, you’ll often see a city hipster and suited up power exec standing next to each other waiting for the same bus (504 King bus to be exact). The King West condominiums are about as pedestrian friendly as it gets. Some of our favourite King West condos include:

Bisha Residences

DNA Condos

Festival Tower

Leslieville – Situated just East of the Don River, Leslieville is the best representation of a historic neighbourhood reimagined. A slew of new developments have given the neighbourhood a contemporary feel while retaining it’s old world charm. Some of the standout condos in Leslieville include: 

The Carlaw Lofts

The Ninety Lofts

The Printing Factory Lofts

Yorkville – Toronto’s neighbourhood to see and be seen in! We love Yorkville. Everything from fine dining, to upscale retail boutiques, Yorkville has a vibe for those with discerning taste. Nestled between the Downtown Toronto core, and Midtown Toronto, Yorkville has the best of both worlds. The quiet picturesque setting just outside of the hustle and bustle, yet minutes away from all the action. Truly one of Toronto’s landmark neighbourhoods. Here are some of our favourite Yorkville condos:

Four Seasons Private Residences

One Bedford

Exhibit Residences

What makes Toronto condos a strong investment?

A good starting point to evaluate any long term investment within any asset class is to define what the demand for that asset is. Toronto real estate by all accounts has strong demand and more specifically the demand for Toronto condos remains extremely strong. We can see yearly growth trends in both the resale market and pre construction market below. These 2 charts are visual displays of high demand as well as the growth in demand for Toronto condos.

Note the widening gap between increasing Immigration levels and New Housing Starts. This indicated that the new housing supply being created is simply not keeping up with new demand.

The second factor we may consider in the Toronto condo market growth trajectory can be it’s 

year over year growth rate. Note below the year over year appreciation for Toronto real estate dating back to 1988. With only a small consolidation period between 1989-1996, the remaining years have experienced parabolic growth and contributed greatly to Canadian’s net wealth per capita.

Since 1988 Toronto real estate has grown in value as an asset class +318.39%. 

At CondoMapper.ca we are extremely bullish on Toronto Real Estate and more specifically Toronto condos. As the price of Freehold homes has grown at an unnaturally high rate, the Freehold home market will likely experience a form of mean reversion. As this happens, we consider the Toronto condo market undervalued by comparison and the more affordable option. This affordability in the Toronto condo market will be a catalyst to growth for many years to come, and a bedrock for end users and investors to build wealth.