If you’re building a multi-family rental building, you’re almost certainly building it “on spec.” What this means is that you’re building an empty building and, once it’s done, you will then work to rent it out. (Nobody rents an apartment years in advance.) In this… Read More
All posts tagged “condo”
Long live the city
The sentiment around downtown/urban condos has completely changed over the last month or so. This is happening in Toronto and, from what I hear, it’s happening in many other cities as well. Carolyn Ireland published an article in the Globe and Mail today called, “For… Read More
Future flexibility in multi-family buildings
It was recently reported that Jimmy Fallon and his wife are selling their New York City Penthouse in Gramercy Park. It’s listed for $15 million. In looking at the photos, it’s pretty much what I would have expected. It’s fun and quirky. And they have… Read More
Smart-lock company Latch to go public
The WSJ announced today that smart-lock company Latch is getting SPAC’ed (i.e. going public). The deal, which is sponsored by commercial real estate firm Tishman Speyer, values the company at about $1.56 billion. One of the things that is attractive about Latch is that they’re… Read More
Average price of a home in the Toronto region increased 13.5% last year
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board released its 2020 housing figures this week. And I suspect that the numbers are probably directionally similar for many city regions around the world. 2020 saw more home sales than 2019 with 95,151 homes changing hands. This represents an… Read More
Shrinking lot sizes and unit sizes
Shane Dingman’s recent piece in the Globe and Mail about shrinking lot sizes raises two interesting points. One, new low-rise lot sizes seem to be shrinking and that’s probably a normal market outcome. Similar to the way in which average unit sizes have been generally… Read More
The great balcony debate — revisited
Over the years, I have written a few times about the great balcony debate. It’s a discussion that comes up time and time again as those of us in the building industry go through the process of designing new residential buildings. One the one hand… Read More
$27 million worth of condos in New York
This week it was reported that a South American family has bought and closed on ~$27 million worth of residential condos at Waterline Square in Manhattan. Apparently they went into contract (after the online showings) and closed on the same day, which I suppose you… Read More
Residence and art gallery in one
I love this article in Designlines Magazine about how Lawrence Blairs (owner of Atomic Design) has setup his 65 square meter one bedroom condo to serve as both a place to live and an art gallery. The main living area is equipped with white vinyl… Read More
Two-up, two-down
Feargus O’Sullivan is doing a series in CityLab right now on the “home designs” that define four European cities: London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. The first one is on London’s classic “two-up, two-down” design, which refers to a two storey home with a living room… Read More