Is There a "Good" Time of the Year to Buy or Sell?

Have you ever been to Paris? Wander around Paris, throughout most any neighbourhood, and you’ll notice there’s a remarkable lack of houses. Lots of apartments and walk ups; few single family dwellings. If we assume that Parisians enjoy having families as much as the rest of us do, where do they live? In the apartments, of course! It’s not considered odd or unpleasant. Living in an apartment is par for the course in a big city like Paris. So why don’t Torontonians embrace the same idea?

One word: space. Canadians seem almost programmed from birth to want the house with the yard for a family. Anything less is perceived as ‘bad parenting’. Many of us were spoiled by growing in single family homes with a backyard. The idea of having less for your own family? NEVER, right?

A lot of condos aren’t built with huge square footage or even a lot of bedrooms. Developers will tell you it’s because they can’t sell units with 2 and 3 bedrooms but this ends up being a chicken and the egg argument. Do families not live in condos because they can’t find one big enough or do developers not build big enough condos because families don’t live in them? I’d say it’s probably a bit of both.

But times are changing, and so are the mindsets of families and developers! The advantages to sacrificing some space for location are huge and need to be considered carefully!

Shorter commutes

I had a friend who once chose to live in Uxbridge, thinking that the cute little town would have a much calmer and friendlier lifestyle than the core of Toronto. Her job was in Scarborough. Needless to say that the first winter of commuting to work, come rain or shine, sleet or hail, wore her down. And she didn’t have kids!

Choosing suburbia for the sake of a bigger, more affordable house (albeit often with little in the way of land), is an option. If you work downtown, however, it’s a difficult one. Commutes into and out of the core can take hours and Canadian winters can make even public transport options difficult.

The lifestyle my friend in Uxbridge was hoping for never happened: she would leave in the dark hours of early morning and get home after dark in the evening. In the space of a year, she found she had no life, spending so much of it commuting and she moved on… to a midtown condo.

Condos are still affordable

In a city where detached single family homes are averaging over $900,000, condos are still rolling in around an average of $525,000. That said, it’s a very hot market for condos at the moment, with pricing up 22% from 2016.

Ultimately, being house rich and cash poor is not a good situation. If you’re paying too much just for a bit of backyard, you won’t be able to enjoy other life events. Like a vacation once in a while!

“Of the 994,000 families with kids living in Toronto, 13 per cent called condos their home, compared to 8.4 per cent across Canada.” (SOURCE)

Amenities close by: there’s no need to get in the car to get some milk!

Not only do families in condos have everything they need right on their doorstep, but they’re also creating communities within their condos.

“Condo families are congregating by the thousands in courtyards, pools and party rooms, and the kind of community spirit and closeness normally associated with small-town neighbours is developing within the towers across the GTA.”  (SOURCE)

 Interestingly, developers ARE getting on the family bandwagon and starting to establish more buildings and units that are family friendly. The Radiance Condos at Yonge and Sheppard, is a great example. While the units aren’t huge, there are amenities to thrill families: a ground floor playroom for kids, a well heated pool that allows even smaller children (some don’t!), a screening room that puts kids’ movies on the roster. Downtown and uptown, more and more building developments are catering to families with kids of all ages.

Schools, daycares, jobs and even green spaces are much closer together, allowing families to spend time together instead of spending time in the car. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Thinking about condo living with your family?

• Consider the size you can live with, given the current size and possible expansion of your family.
• Look at amenities closely, including within the building but also within walking distance. Schools, community centres, parks and more, all matter!
• If you can, find out what proportion of the building is currently being lived in by families. This will give you a sense of the ‘community’ you might be joining.

In the end, apartment living isn’t a negative and in fact, can bring a lot of positives to you and your family. Think about it and if you have any questions, let me know!