Toronto’s years-long development boom is shifting the height balance away from the Financial District with new skyscraper peaks around the downtown core.
Perhaps none will be as significant as the growth spurt reshaping the Yonge and Bloor area, where one of the top-two-tallest towers in the country is under construction, and another massive tower could be just around the corner.
A new titan was just proposed for what is shaping up to be Toronto’s version of the Billionaires’ Row towers that loom over Central Park in Manhattan, an ultra-thin 94-storey behemoth that would rise taller than anything that exists in Canada today.
The new application was submitted to city planners in early March, detailing an ambitious plan to construct a sky-scraping tower stretching almost 302 metres into the skyline with a design from architects IBI Group.
At that height, it would be among the first Canadian buildings to surpass the elusive 300-metre/100-foot mark, where a skyscraper takes on the even more impressive (but completely arbitrary) title of “supertall” according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
The proposed building would contain just over 270 square metres of ground-floor retail space, maintaining the strip of classy commercial spaces along Bloor Street West.
Above, a total of 1,262 condominium units are planned in a breakdown of 84 studios, 653 one-bedrooms, 459 two-bedrooms, and 126 three-bedroom units.
Despite the proximity of both Bloor-Yonge and Bay subway stations, the proposal includes a four-level-deep underground garage, though due to the slender site footprint, this component would only support 70 parking spaces.
The majority of the (likely ultra-wealthy) condo dwellers above would instead be faced with the prospect of (gasp) public transit, along with a pick-up and drop-off area for what I’m guessing will be a ride-sharing service hotspot.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
