A five-bedroom, eight-bathroom, never-lived-in home with a landscaped backyard containing a bunker-style laneway suite. The place is located on a quiet street just west of the Ossington strip and is walking distance from the many bars and restaurants on Dundas. It also has access to half a dozen streetcar lines and bus routes.
The history
Just completed, the semi was designed by JA Architecture Studio, which conceived of it as the Toronto home of tomorrow: a luxury build that enhances the neighbourhood and can be divided into three distinct residences for added density.
The façade’s rounded window and zinc roof—fire resistant, insect proof and long lasting—are impossible to miss from the street.
Inside, a minimalist wall kitchen and curved staircase flank the main living area. That’s the laneway suite in the background (more on that later).
The living area is illuminated by wall-to-wall sliding doors and a cute skylight above the couch.
A reverse angle showcases the front of the home and the staircase.
The kitchen, meanwhile, is contained inside a custom mantle by Scavolini with fully integrated Gaggenau appliances.
Here’s a closer look at the dining area, with a sleek wine fridge on the right.
Here’s a view of the zigzagging staircase from the second-floor landing.
And here’s one of the secondary bedrooms, equipped with custom closets and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The third floor is dedicated to the tricked-out main suite. It has an arched ceiling, a private balcony and a full row of bespoke closets.
Opposite the bed is a wet bar that comes with a coffee machine and an electric cooktop. The suite even has its own living area overlooking the front yard.
Around the corner is this spa-style ensuite bathroom, with a double vanity, a soaker tub and more arches. Squint and you can see Liberty Village in the distance.
Now the balcony, with a view of the CN Tower beyond the trees.
Moving downstairs reveals the basement unit. It has a separate door leading to the street and comes with heated floors, two bathrooms and its own kitchen.
Down the hall is the living area.
This is what the house looks like from the landscaped backyard.
The curved motif continues with the one-bedroom laneway suite—a junior version of the main home.
Builders layered concrete atop the original garage structure for the bedroom.
Finally, a view of the suite’s foyer, which doubles as an office.
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TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
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.
