So it shouldn’t really be a surprise that a basement studio apartment is being listed for $439,000.
A home office in a closet.
“Welcome to your urban tiny home!” reads the listing, which is a bit misleading since it’s technically a townhouse, not a detached home (like a real tiny home).
But it is tiny – well under 500 square feet.
The main entrance.
The unit is located at 415 Jarvis Street in The Central Townhouses complex in Cabbagetown, so location-wise, it’s great.
It’s close to downtown, shopping, restaurants and trendy cafes, so it at least has that going for it.
The outdoor patio.
It also has private outdoor space, although “space” is being generous as there’s barely enough room for a bistro table.
A view of the outdoor space from above.
So apart from location and the small amount of outdoor space, there’s not much that really makes this place worth almost half a million.
The main living, dining and sleeping area.
It has a lime green floor (why?), low ceilings, a dated kitchen, and a bathroom that has seen better days.
So the nearly $500k price tag on 142- 415 Jarvis St. seems very mismatched for what you’re getting, especially considering it likely needs some hefty renos in the bathroom and kitchen and doesn’t even have a parking pad you could rent out.
Also what happened to condo prices going down? That was supposed to be happening right? Right?
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.
