“It’s pretty easy to understand why people are doing this — the economics are completely in line with the market when you consider that a detached house in the City of Toronto is worth over $1 million now.
“It’s definitely changing the character of neighbourhoods and it’s certainly not good for affordability. But it’s inevitable. We’re becoming a victim of our own success as a city.”
Values have especially skyrocketed in central Willowdale because its quiet, tree-lined streets are close to two subway lines (Yonge and Sheppard), highways, top-ranked schools and a host of big-city amenities — all of that now at a discount, thanks to the weak Canadian dollar.
That means a developer can buy an existing home for $1.5 million, tear it down, build a top-of-the-line new 3,000- or 4,000-square-foot home and make $500,000-plus, with prices now heading north of $3 million for rebuilds here boasting suburban-style basics like grand family rooms, granite-clad kitchens and spacious ensuite bathrooms.
All the demand is also being felt at city hall, where applications for zoning variances are up dramatically and there’s growing pressure from builders to go bigger than ever or sever 50-foot lots and build two homes, instead of one.
In with the new …
369 Hollywood Ave.
Asking price $2.89 million
Replaced original 1.5 storey, 2 bedroom house
Sold for $1.039 million in September 2013
369 Hollywood Ave, which has an asking price of $2.89 million.
156 Elmwood Ave.
Asking price $3.28 million
5 bedroom, 4,000 sf-plus
Replaced original 1.5 storey, 3 bedroom house
Sold for $1.246 million in February 2014
156 Elmwood Ave, which sold for $1.246 million in February 2014.
122 Kingsdale Ave.
Asking price $3.199 million
5 bedroom, 4,000 sf-plus
Replaced original post-war home
Sold for $1.2 million in June 2014
122 Kingsdale Ave, which sold for $1.2 million in June 2014.
46.8 % — GTA house price growth in past 5 years
63.5 % — Willowdale house price growth in past 5 years
$230 to $250 per square foot — average cost of top-of-the-line rebuild
$1.5+ million — average price of original house on 40-foot lot
$1.7+ million — average price of original house on 50-foot lot
13 — applications to sever lots in 2012
20 — applications to sever lots just to October 2015
177 — applications for variances to build bigger homes in 2012
247 — applications for variances just to October 2015
Please read the full post in Toronto Star
