While prices for detached houses rose on average 5 per cent 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, according to real estate firm ReMax Ontario-Atlantic Canada.
"Downtown isn't the centre of the universe any longer," said ReMax spokesperson 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 by ReMax.
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 per cent to $360,175.
In second place was the nearby Beach neighbourhood with values up 19.6 per cent to $622,042. "Neighbourhoods that offer detached product at reasonable prices have experienced the greatest return on investment," said ReMax.
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 per cent from 2005, already a record year.
"Even with a marginally softer market in the second half of the year, we're still on track for a record nationally," CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said. With higher interest rates putting a crimp on affordability, the association expects sales to be about 1 per cent more than 2005 by year end.
Toronto, which has a more mature housing market, saw activity increase by a more moderate 2.5 per cent during the first half. More listings in the Toronto market should give some relief to buyers who can expect a more temperate market with more modest price increases, especially when compared with other markets nationally, such as Alberta's.
While Toronto has been up just more than 5 per cent this year — for all property categories — cities like Calgary have seen a more than 35 per cent price rise in the first six months of the year. Some of the increases nationally are due to greater demand for luxury buildings and homes, which tends to skew averages higher, said Klump.
"It's encouraging to see this happen. Normally, luxury product is the first to fall when the market is late in the game, but people are still buying," he said. That's certainly the case in Toronto, where the Swansea, South Parkdale and Roncesvalles communities saw prices appreciate by 19.25 per cent to $640,132.
The Bayview Village area, with large lot sizes and available bungalows, saw a jump of 17.7 per cent 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 per cent to a prohibitive $1,132,410 for the average detached home.
With detached homes becoming less affordable, buyers have increasingly turned to 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 per cent.
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 per cent to $173,238. Lawrence Park again made the top five with a 10.6 per cent increase to $327,525.
For more info on Toronto real estate market go to http://www.torontogreathomes.com
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TORONTO REAL ESTATE. Real estate prices are up
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