Experts say fundamental shifts in population and lifestyle — couples putting off marriage and children, workers rebelling against tiresome, traffic-clogged commutes — are pairing with a growing backlash against urban sprawl to spur one of the most pronounced and sustained real-estate booms in recent history.
That explosion is, in turn, changing the shape and culture of Canada’s cities.
“It’s a combination of economic and demographic factors,” Condos present a more affordable option for first-time home buyers such as young adults and new immigrants. Empty-nesters looking to downsize to a smaller home are also driving the condo craze, but for lifestyle reasons more than financial ones.
Immigrants are our bread and butter and the census proves it -There are more of us — 33.47 million, according to the census. We need more young people in the workforce. We need them for our collective prosperity and, especially, to pay for our pensions, old age security and health care. It is they who are primarily fuelling the boom in population and real estate in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the three metropolitan areas that account for 35 per cent of our total population.
Toronto's suburbs are still booming- The city on Toronto’s outskirts grew by a whopping 56.5 per cent to 84,362 residents between 2006 and 2011, according to new Statistics Canada figures released Wednesday. Whitchurch-Stouffville: rank in at number three with a 54.3 per cent jump to 37,628 residents. Milton: is the fastest growing municipality in Canada grown 71.4%. Brampton also grew significantly, up 20.8 per cent to 523,911. Mississauga was up 6.7 per cent to 713,443. Toronto stood at 2,615,060 residents, up 4.5 per cent, with growth focused along the waterfront, the downtown core and several pockets across the city.
Young professionals, baby boomers fuelling Canada’s condo boom - the retired couples are part of the condo craze — lured by the promise of a life free of clearing snow and scooping out eavestroughs, drawn to the gleaming glass-and-steel towers and newly scrubbed factory conversions that are reshaping Canada’s urban lifestyle.
Condos present a more affordable option for first-time home buyers such as young adults and new immigrants, Empty-nesters looking to downsize to a smaller home are also driving the condo craze, but for lifestyle reasons more than financial ones.
GTA condo sales climb 24% to record in 2011 - A record 28,190 condos were sold across the GTA last year, up 24 per cent from the previous high set in 2007, says condo research firm Urbanation. The final quarter of 2011, at a record 7,226 units. Speculative buying, over-leveraging and “herd behaviour” as three risk factors that are hard to assess but could lead to a correction in Toronto condo prices.
The inventory of unsold suites has been creeping up. As of the end of last year, it stood at just under 15,000 units — about 18 per cent of existing condos — up from 12,272 in the first quarter of 2011. That’s still below the five-year 21 per cent average for unsold suites.
The most powerful attraction of downtown is after-hours nightlife that there wasn’t before, which attracts more people.
As more condos crop up and more people move in, the challenge will be to foster diversity within those fledgling communities, said David Gordon, an urban development expert at Queen’s University in Kingston. Otherwise, some areas could become enclaves for young professionals and affluent retirees, shutting out families and lower-income residents.
Planners in Edmonton are looking for developments with larger condos to draw families away from the suburbs.
The challenge at this point ... is to provide the park spaces and the schools and the infrastructure that’s necessary. If the schools aren’t open, Families aren’t going to move downtown.
