Address: 126 Kilbarry Road
Neighbourhood: Forest Hill South
Agent: Howard K. Lende, Forest Hill Real Estate Inc., Brokerage
Price: $2,795,000
The Place: A classy five-bedroom home with a chateau-like exterior in the heart of Forest Hill.
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Cottage of the Week: $2.35 million for a waterfront property with a very pricey home theatre
Address: 18 Coutnac Crescent
Neighbourhood: Tiny, Ontario
Agent: Lorne Howell, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage
Price: $2,350,000
The Place: A sprawling vacation property with a high-end house and a 160-foot stretch of white sandy beach on Georgian Bay.
Condo of the Week: $850,000 for a two-level unit in the Boiler Factory Lofts on Queen Street East
Address: 189 Queen Street East, Unit 2
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Agent: Erica Reddy, Royal LePage Signature Realty, Brokerage
Price: $849,000
The Place: A one-bedroom unit on two levels with original oak floors, brick walls and exposed wooden beams. It’s one of 11 condos in the Boiler Factory Lofts on Queen Street East.
The Chase: long-distance lovers win a bidding war on the perfect house near Queen and Broadview
The buyers: Sarah Greer, 33, and Scott Perfonic, 34, who both work at the financial services firm Raymond James.
The story: Greer and Perfonic met at a conference in Lake Louise in 2005. She was living just north of Toronto in Bradford, he in Vancouver. They hit it off and dated long distance—for almost seven years—until he moved to Toronto last year. The couple rented a townhouse in Riverside, which they liked for its proximity to the beach, and to restaurants and pubs. Before their year-long lease was up, the couple was married and looking to buy in the neighbourhood. They wanted a place with room for kids, a front porch for relaxing on summer evenings and a large backyard for their two cocker spaniels. And they wanted that dream home for no more than $600,000. They looked at 20 houses before they made their first—and only—offer.
House of the Week: $2.1 million for a Summerhill semi with a tranquil sunken living room
Address: 125 MacPherson Avenue
Neighbourhood: Yorkville
Agent: Allan Consky, Royal LePage/J & D Division, Brokerage
Price: $2,095,000
The Place: A two-bedroom brick semi on a pretty, tree-lined street in Summerhill.
Condo of the Week: $3.3 million for a suite with its own mini art gallery at Avenue and St. Clair
Address:155 St. Clair Avenue West, Unit 1401
Neighbourhood: Casa Loma
Agent: Leslie Lyons and Jamie Sarner, Royal LePage Johnston & Daniel Division, Brokerage
Price: $3,260,000
The Place: A two-bedroom suite on the 14th floor of The Avenue, a high-end building at Avenue and St. Clair.
Peter Munk is dropping dollars in the Toronto condo market
Jet-setting philanthropist Peter Munk, the 85-year-old founder of Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., is taking a rogue approach to real estate: he’s dumping big money into condo developments at a time when Toronto’s already overflowing with high rises and other developers are backing away. Munk is using his personal wealth to help finance CD Capital, headed by Todd Cowan and Jordan Dermer, who were previously execs at another real estate company backed by Munk. The developers’ projects include, among others, the 300-unit Sixty Colborne project near St. Lawrence Market and 155 Redpath at Yonge and Eglinton, an area Dermer argues is ripe for development. Munk, meanwhile, says the city’s starry future is reason enough to invest. Hard to argue with a billion-dollar man. [Globe and Mail]
House of the Week: $2.4 million for a 90-year-old home with a pool and a yoga studio
Address: 367 Walmer Road
Neighbourhood: Casa Loma
Agent: Trish Bongard Godfrey, Bosley Real Estate
Price: $2,399,000
The Place: A well-preserved family home with a big backyard just down the street from Casa Loma.
Potential buyers have to pay $50 just to view a high-end home in The Beach
So many people are now hitting swanky open houses for fun that agents and owners are looking for ways to separate penniless oglers from serious, deep-pocketed buyers. Case in point: anyone wanting to view Edgemont, a sprawling beachfront property currently listed for $5 million, will have to make a $50 donation to the SickKids Foundation before being allowed inside the seven-bedroom heritage home. The agent says potential buyers, tired of keeping their own listed homes showroom ready, are sympathetic to the owner’s efforts to minimise disruption and happily pony up the cash. As for the gawkers, they’ll have to make do with the exterior photos from the online listing—or stroll along the beach with binoculars. [Toronto Star]
Condo Showdown: five sumptuous residences in Toronto luxury hotels
The slew of five-star hotels that popped up downtown in recent years did more than increase Toronto’s appeal as an tourist destination. They also upended the city’s upscale condo market. The high-end residences have stacked amenity lists (with steep condo fees to match) that appeal to jet-setting business-types accustomed to all the conveniences of hotel living and wealthy A-listers with a love for high-profile luxury brands. From a party-ready suite in the Thompson to a unit in the Four Seasons with incredible views, we break down five of the units currently on the market.
Condo of the Week: $715,000 for a three-level industrial loft on King West
Address: 766 King Street West, Unit 403
Neighbourhood: Niagara
Agent: Sean Mayers, Century 21 Regal Realty Inc., Brokerage
Price: $715,000
The Place: A two-bedroom, three-level unit on the top floor of the Tecumseth Lofts, a former commercial warehouse divided into 28 units in 1999.
House of the Week: $3 million for a boldly decorated historical home in Rosedale
Address: 53 Elm Avenue
Neighbourhood: Rosedale-Moore Park
Agent: Joseph Robert and Gillian Oxley, Royal LePage/J & D Division, Brokerage
Price: $2,998,000
The Place: A five-bedroom, 5,300-square-foot semi in Rosedale that was built in 1888.
Real Estate Cheat Sheet: shocking rent increases and a crackdown on phantom bids
(Image: Jason Paris)
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s new mortgage rules sparked a rapid decline in home sales and reinforced just how central regulations are to housing markets. Below, we unpack three recent stories about navigating the regulatory landscape, covering everything from rent controls to tax breaks.
Condo of the Week: $1 million for a penthouse in a St. James Town development with a rooftop pool
Address: 120 Homewood Avenue, Unit 617
Neighbourhood: North St. James Town
Agent: Andrew Harrild, Royal LePage Your Community Realty, Brokerage
Price: $999,500
The Place: A two-bedroom corner penthouse in The Verve lofts, a mid-rise building attached to a condo tower with a rooftop pool.
Sold: a “loft house” on the Dupont strip for $818,000
With all the talk of condo bubbles, over-the-top bidding wars and failed flips, wading into Toronto’s housing market requires equal parts bravery and real estate savvy. To help with the latter, we decided to dish when the properties we profile in our House of the Week, Condo of the Week and Cottage of the Week features are sold. Here, all the details from the latest sale.
• The place: A three-storey townhome with designer interiors in the Annex Loft Houses, a boutique development at Bathurst and Dupont.
• The agent: Jonathan Ferrier, Royal LePage Real Estate Services
• Listed price: $824,900
