INVESTING IN TORONTO REAL ESTATE

March 5 2007


For most of us, buying a home will be the single largest purchase in our lives. And how do you go about choosing a neighbourhood where to buy?
In a recent article in the Toronto Star, writer Tony Wong discussed Parkdale.


If you have ever driven through Parkdale, you will find some spectacular - huge - Victorian homes - not too far away from some large apartment buildings. The headline of this article reads, "Parkdale the hottest real estate play in city Home prices jumped 18% in some neighbourhoods in last year, survey says". Is Parkdale the new Leslieville?


When I first lived in Toronto, I lived above a store front on Queen West across from Woolfits Art Supply Store - if I had only known then what I know now - the Drake Hotel and the Gladstone Hotel have changed the face of this neighbourhood dramatically. Real estate prices have escalated! Parkdale is just a little west of the Gladstone.


My first home in Toronto was on Booth Avenue in South Riverdale now known as Leslieville. We lived across from Jimmie Simpson Park and we really enjoyed living there but always wondered when the neighbourhood would start to change. It was a little rough around the edges at the time.
At the bottom of the street at Queen and Booth there used to be a great store that sold all kinds of wicker imports. It was so much fun to shop there. Today, it is a great little restaurant called Joy Bistro. There are a ton of little restaurants in the neighbourhood now and the defining moment for the area was the arrival of a Starbucks at the corner of Queen East and Logan. You have to know that Starbucks does their homework! Real estate has become very pricy in Leslieville.


(If you are in the neighbourhood and want to have a coffee, you may want to try some of the other coffee shops in the area, check out "the Mercury Organic Espresso Bar" at 915 Queen St East or "Tango Palace" - an established Leslieville hangout way before Starbucks ever arrived!)


I have some clients who bought a home on Rushbrooke a few years ago - a cute street south of Queen - it was affordable a few years ago, but prices have almost doubled since they moved in.


I have other clients who live in a two level condo at King and Shaw - this neighbourhood has exploded over the last few years. There is a excellent new condominium at the corner called the DNA - Downtown's Next Address! And low and behold - Starbucks opened a location at that very corner about a year ago!


So how much longer will it be before they open an location in Parkdale - if you wait too long, who knows what real estate values will be like by then. So is Parkdale the new Leslieville? Check back with me in a few years!


For detailed statistical information about housing prices in Toronto - click on the following Toronto MLS in the left menu and the go to Market Watch Reports. The link below is a sample of the January 2007 issue.
http://samsellstorontorealestate.com/pdfMarketWatch/2007_01.pdf


Sam Sells Toronto Real Estate