Pat Hanson of gh3* is absolutely right with her comment, here, about why we are seeing more windowless bedrooms being built in Toronto: In much the same way, some of Toronto’s development policies encourage windowless bedrooms. “I don’t think it’s driven by cost,” says architect Pat… Read More
All posts tagged “toronto condos”
Closing risk
Urbanation is forecasting that approximately 27,000 condominium suites will finish construction and be ready for occupancy this year in the Greater Toronto Area. This is some sort of a record, and is naturally the result of record pre-construction sales over the last cycle. This number… Read More
Why are construction starts down?
Last year in the Greater Toronto Area, condominium construction starts fell to a 9-year low of 15,891 homes. And this year, condominium construction starts are forecasted to fall to a 15-year low of 11,500 homes (though new sales are expected to rebound). Both of these… Read More
Are we really back to talking about “use-it-or-lose-it” zoning?
It is very disappointing to hear that Paul Calandra — Ontario’s new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing — is talking about “use-it-or-lose-it” zoning policies and that mayors are coming out in support of it. This is a terrible idea. On the surface, it may… Read More
Cheap mortgages are something to hang onto
If you really need a new home, then I guess this makes sense: We thought rising mortgage rates would crush the homebuilders, and bet against Pulte in the FT stockpicking contest. But the exact opposite happened: high rates froze the existing house market by giving… Read More
Elevators in multi-family buildings
One of the most important considerations for livability in a multi-family building is the elevators. And as someone who has lived in a condominium building for the last 10 years, I know firsthand that it can be frustrating when they aren’t working properly. So this… Read More
Most new condominiums are not owner-occupied — is that actually a bad thing?
Here’s some data (via Jeremy Withers) explaining that a large portion — about 61% — of new condominiums built in Ontario between 2016 and 2021 were not owner-occupied. In the case of low-rise houses, the figure is lower — about 24%. Now, the premise of… Read More
What does Toronto want to be?
“On some level, we’re [Toronto] still trying to be a Victorian city.” —Peter Clewes It is not an exaggeration to say that Peter Clewes, of architects-Alliance, is one of the most important architects working in Toronto today. Over the last two decades, Toronto has built… Read More
Families in multi-family buildings
There is an ongoing debate in Toronto, and many other North American cities, about how to encourage more families to live in multi-family buildings. And here that has generally translated into (1) mandating a certain number of larger family-sized suites and (2) creating design guidelines… Read More
On not going pens down
Back in May, I wrote a post about time to market and managing costs in condominium projects. What I wrote then remains true and equally, if not more, important today. But given all the uncertainty that we are continuing to see in the market, I… Read More