The average price of a Canadian home sold last month was $341,079, a 20.7% increase from a year ago, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

 Sales also continued to climb with 42,288 units trading hands, a 41% jump from October, 2008. Existing home prices across Canada are now rising at a pace unseen in 20 years raising fears that a bubble may be forming in the Real Estate market.

New listings last month in the country’s 25 largest market were off 16% from a year ago creating a surging demand for existing listings that are in short supply.

The rapid-fire rebound in Canadian housing is showing no sign of letting up.

 Toronto, the largest market in the country, saw a 20% increase in the average resale price last month from year ago and Vancouver, the most expensive market in the country,saw  sales up 170.8% from the same time a year ago..

 The average mortgage rate negotiated in the past year was 4.55%, a decline from 5.41% a year ago.

CREA is now predicting prices will rise 4.2% for 2009 after suggesting they would only increase by 1.5%.

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Trump Tower Toronto Condo Development

Toronto Condo Market Rebounds

Toronto is now the new Condo Capital of North America with more and more Condos nearing completion and even more planned for the future.

Buying a new Condo through a builder without first consulting a Lawyer or even a Real Estate Agent for their advise can yield some expensive surprises.

Have your own Real Estate Lawyer review any builders agreement of purchase and sale before committing. its worth it.

Read On: ( Bob Aaron’s recent column)

Buyers hit with big bills for surprise adjustments

As many as 244 purchasers received a nasty surprise at the end of September when they got hit with thousands of dollars in “fictitious” charges on final closing of their new condominium units.

The development in question is a 244-unit medium-rise building near Warden Ave. and Enterprise Dr. in Markham.

The builder’s agreement of purchase and sale contains an escalation clause typical of those used by local builders.

The clause contemplates that prior to final closing, there may be increases in the municipal levies or development charges, which were in place prior to construction.

The agreement states that in the event there is an increase in any of these existing levies after the day the document has been signed, “the purchaser shall pay the increase to the existing levy … as an adjustment” to the builder on closing.

This means that the purchasers have to pay the builder the amount of increases in any government charges, which come into effect between signing and closing. Of critical importance, the clause is silent on whether the purchasers must reimburse the builder only for increases actually paid by the builder, or as well for increases imposed by the Town but from which the builder is exempt because the levies were prepaid.

Toronto lawyer Stephen Shub represented a number of purchasers in the Markham project. He told me that on closing, all of his clients were shocked to see that they were being charged between $7,680 and $11,283 for increases in existing levies.

A schedule attached to the builder’s statements of adjustments for each purchaser detailed the amount of levy increase charged.

Shub discovered that the builder had not actually paid the amounts set out in the schedule. At the time the building permits were issued in May 2007, the builder had prepaid less than $300 in levies for each unit. When the town subsequently imposed thousands of dollars in higher levies, the builder did not have to pay those amounts because the increases were not retroactive.

On behalf of his clients, Shub took the position that the builder had no right to charge purchasers for levies it had neither incurred nor paid. The disputed clause in the agreement, he said, “can only apply to monies paid by the builder to the Town of Markham and not to monies never paid by the builder.”

Despite Shub’s objections, the builder insisted it was entitled to recover levy increases that had been implemented by Markham but that it had not been required to pay.

In a letter to Shub, Michael C. Volpatti, solicitor for the builder, said that the purchase agreement entitled the builder to charge purchasers for “any new levy” after the date the agreement was signed, and “without regard to the date of payment” by the builder.

Translated from legalese, the builder’s position is that, according to the agreement, it has the right to recover any new levies, including those that it was in fact exempt from paying.

Eventually Shub closed the transactions on behalf of his purchasers, and the amounts in dispute are being held in trust by the builder’s lawyer until further resolution.

In a detailed letter to me, Shub estimated that the builder has pocketed as much as $2 million in “unreal, exaggerated, surprise closing adjustments” from 244 “unsuspecting buyers.”

To make matters worse, the buyers had to come up with the cash for these charges, and could not add them to their mortgages.

Calling the builder’s actions a “rip-off,” Shub wants builders to commit to voluntary upfront disclosure of all closing adjustments. He also calls for regulatory intervention by the Ontario government so that builders will not spring “surprise attacks on the unsuspecting public.”

I agree with him. Any attempt to force purchasers to pay thousands of dollars in fictitious charges does no credit to the public image of Ontario’s homebuilders.

November 7, 2009

A very good article for Toronto Condo buyers contemplating a new or even resale Condo.

Toronto Condos in the Central Real Estate districts again, showed strength in prices for October, 2009. Sales to active listings percentages and also the average sales to listed price percentages continued to do well.

Here are the Toronto Real Estate Boards October, 2009 average resale Condo prices for the Central Districts.

Toronto Condo sales to active listings percentage in a normal Toronto Real Estate Market are 24%-28% with 24% and below, a buyer’s Market and above 28%, a sellers Market.

The Toronto Real Estate district ( C01 ) saw resale Condos sell for 101% of the listed price and ( C08 ) saw the sales to active listings at a high 102%.

We  follow the Toronto Central Condo Districts of C01, C07, C08, C14 and C15 because they are the Toronto Real Estate districts with the most Condo sales.

A larger district is able to give a better picture of the current Toronto Condo Market and what direction it is taking from month to month.

The other reason, we like downtown Toronto Condos and North York Condos,  is because we specialize in Toronto Condo Listings.

Toronto Condos in the downtown area ( C01 ),  showed an increase of  15.0% in average resale price to $398,788 from October, 2008 to October, 2009.

Toronto Real Estate Condo listings in ( C02 ) had an average price of $594,814, a 37.0 per cent increase! This central Toronto district has Luxury Condominiums on Hazelton Lanes, Yorkville Avenue, Avenue Road, Cumberland and Bellair St. to name a few.

The upcoming Real Estate statistics for Toronto, should be interesting to see if the month over month average prices continues to improve.

It should be noted that these comparisons reflect on 2008 when Toronto Real Estate was lower in both sales and price reflecting  the world-wide economic recession.

Related Posts:

Toronto Condos October Results

Toronto Luxury Homes Post Record Sales Says Remax

Near Record Toronto Home Sales Forecast For 2009

Maple Leaf Square Condos

Work continues on York Street for the Maple Leaf Square Condominiums in Toronto.

Maple Leaf Square Condos with its two residential towers is part of York Centre that also includes The Telus building seen to the right.

The towers of the Maple Leaf Square Condominiums are tall, 55 and 65 storeys high, some of the highest in the downtown core.

The Condos will be connected to The Path system and will be very close to Toronto’s waterfront, Union Station, The Financial Core, Rogers Stadium and most important, the Air Canada Centre.

In the fore-ground is the Air Canada Centre, just a winning goal away!

Neighbourhood Condos:

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Toronto Luxury Homes Post Record Sales

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One Bloor Site

Construction has not started yet on the originally planned 80-storey luxury Condominium site (now cancelled) at One Bloor, Toronto.

The original developer sold the Condo site before construction started because of lack of financing. The new developer is re-doing the property for a smaller development and a much shorter Condo tower.

The Bloor Yonge area is seeing more and more new Condos in various phases of completion.

• The Uptown
• Crystal Blu
• Casa
• The Bloor Street Neighbourhood Condos

All these Luxury Toronto Condos are within minutes of this corner, described as Canada’s most important intersection.

Standing here, with the complete corner levelled and now fenced in, we wonder why all the great plans for the highest Condo/Hotel in Canada never made it off the ground.

Gone are the plans for the planned 500 Condos, the 120 room Hotel and the upscale retail space on the first three floors.

The dream lives on.

Search current new and resale Toronto Condo Listings in the Bloor Yonge area.

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Yonge Bloor Condos 15 St. Mary

 An application to permit a 29-storey residential Condominium  in the Bloor and Yonge street neighbourhood has been submitted to City council.

The area just south of Canada’s , most famous intersection  Yonge and Bloor, is located on the corner of St Mary and St. Nicholas Streets.

Anyone that has “happened” upon St. Nicholas St. with all the original and reproduction Victorian Heritage homes, will find it very different and pedestrian friendly.

New Condos like  Crystal Blue , The Uptown Residences and U Condominiums are all new projects in the general area. Casa  Condos and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood Condos are just East of this project.

• Manulife Centre -51 Floors
• The Uptown- 48 Floors
• Crystal Blue-34 Floors
• U Condominiums (2)-55 Floors

I really do not think that this high-rise Toronto Condo will change this neighbourhood as much as others propose. Already several high Condos are in the immediate area on Bay St. and the Manulife Centre (1972) really couldnt be much bigger and has yet to change the neighbourhood in 37 years.

Just perhaps, this new Condo development will be a positive anchor to the Heritage community of St. Nicholas Street.

Have you ever noticed that Hollywood directors like to wash down the streets before shooting the scene? In the above picture you will have to guess:

• Did I have the Streets washed down by the City?
• Did It Rain?
• Did I have a Hollywood Director help in his scene?

In doing some research on this post I noticed the size of upcoming Bloor area Condos:

• Uptown-48 Floors
• X Condominiums-45 Floors
• Casa-45 Floors

These are huge Toronto Condos, try and look up from street level at Casa!!

What surprised even me, was that The L Tower Condos are showing 55 Floors, thats going to be really high at Yonge and Front!

Here are updated Toronto Condo Listings, some in the Bay Bloor Area.

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Toronto Condos Downtown

New Condos Revitalize Toronto’s Neighbourhoods

A proposal to build a 44-storey Condo at St Mary Street and St.Nicholas Street in the Yonge Bloor area has been approved but with the original application now reduced to 29 storeys.

Currently there are several Victorian-era Homes and business on the quiet St. Nicholas Street and these residents along with the Bay Corridor Community Association argued for a much smaller Condo of 10-storeys maximum.

Urban Capital Property Group and Alit Developments are behind this Toronto Condominium project that will still require City Council approval.

U Condominiums, on St. Mary St. has already been approved to build two Condo Towers just a block away on the U of T campus.

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Toronto Real Estate Sales have risen stronger than the supply of Toronto MLS listings, resulting in an increasing rate of price growth. The average Toronto home price for 2009 is forecast at $390,000, up by 2.5% compared to 2008.

Interest rates that moved to record lows this year helped serve a broad array of Toronto home buyers in all price ranges and in all major housing types.

In September, low-rise homes grew by 25 per cent over last year but high-rise Condos rose 34 per cent over last year.

Despite the economic turmoil of 2008, the year to date saw Toronto resales up 4.5 per cent and the average Toronto resale price up 1.5 per cent for the first three quarters of 2009.

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Central Toronto Condos September Sales

Toronto Condos in the Central Real Estate districts again, showed strength in prices for the month of September. Sales to active listings percentages and also the average sales to listed price percentages also did well.

Here are the Toronto Real Estate Boards September, 2009 average resale Condo prices for the Central Districts.

Toronto Condo sales to active listings percentage in a normal Toronto Real Estate Market is 24%-28% with 24% and below, a buyer’s Market and above 28%, a sellers Market.

The Toronto Real Estate district ( C01 ) saw resale Condos sell for 100% of the listed price and ( C08 ) saw the sales to active listings at a high 101%.

We  follow the Toronto Central Condo Districts of C01, C07, C08, C14 and C15 because they are the Toronto Real Estate districts with the most Condo sales.

A larger district is able to give a better picture of the current Toronto Condo Market and what direction it is taking from month to month.

The other reason, we like downtown Toronto Condos and North York Condos,  is because we specialize in Toronto Condo Listings.

Toronto Condos in the downtown area ( C01 ),  showed an increase of  10.7.% in average price to $380,308 from September, 2008 to September, 2009.

Toronto Real Estate Condo listings in ( C02 ) had an average price of $752,806, a 44.6 per cent increase! This central district has Luxury Condominiums on Hazelton Lanes, Yorkville Avenue, Avenue Road, Cumberland and Bellair St. to name a few.

The upcoming Real Estate statistics for Toronto, should be interesting to see if the month over month average prices continues to improve.

Related:

Toronto’s Most Expensive Luxury Condos

Toronto Condos

Downtown Toronto Condo prices showed positive increases for the September Toronto Real Estate market.

The largest Condominium Market in Toronto, ( C01 ), saw the average price increase 10.7 per cent from September 2008, and( C02 ) including many Luxury Yorkville Condos, was up an amazing 45 per cent to $752,806.

Not even New York Condos or Chicago Condos can show that average price increase for September 2009.

Resales for the Greater Toronto Area ( GTA ) were up 28 per cent from September 2008 showing Toronto buyers are most  interested in Real Estate for the long term.

Year to date GTA home and condo sales were up 4.5 per cent compared to the first nine months of 2008 and the average resale price was up 1.54 per cent in the same period.

The City of Toronto saw home and condo sales increase to 3,341- up 3 per cent and the average Toronto resale price rose 11 per cent to $437,182  for September, 2009.

More Toronto Real Estate average prices and sales figures for all the Toronto districts can be found on our Toronto Real Estate website that includes Condos, Homes, Lofts and detached homes.

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