I read with interest a column in the Toronto Star by Stephen Dupuis, entitled "Singles opt for condos". It provided a brief summary of some of the survey results of the Altus Group Housing Report that was released recently.
It turns out many people aren't waiting to find "The One" before plunging into home ownership. Singles are equipped with good paying jobs, need a place to live like the rest of us and are making intelligent choices to invest in a home rather than throw away their hard earned income to rent.
Tridel, a major condominium builder, commented that one third of their buyers are single females. That's what I call Girl Power!
Here are a few more highlights from the report:
- One of every two homes sold in the past two years have been purchased by first time buyers, amounting to more that 250,000 sales per year, new and resale combined.
- The average age of these first time buyers is 33 years old, 60% were within the 25-34 age group, 25% were 35-49, and some first time home buyers in the 50-plus age range.
- Across Canada, the average house price for first time home buyers was $273,000, based on their average earnings of $69,000, the cost of their first house is approximately four times their income.
- 10 years ago homes were being purchased for less than three times income, so it has become a bit tougher to buy a home.
The condo market is a great option for singles, can offer more affordability without having to cut the grass and shovel the snow. It's a life style choice, and when you're on the dating scene looking for your Knight in Shining Armour or the Girl of your dreams, a condo just may be the way to go.
Neighbourhood names, rather than MLS districts is how buyers identify where they would like to live. As a Realtor, you had to take the boundaries of the neighbourhood and figure out which MLS district the neighbourhood was in. So if they wanted to live in Leaside, you searched C11, however the MLS district stretched to include Thorncliffe Park, so listings in this area would pop up as well.
Times are a changing, and on July 5th the Toronto Real Estate Board is revamping our search tool to reflect community or neighbourhood names. These new maps were developed with input from both government bodies and Realtors.
An area north of the Beach neighbourhood has become known as the Upper Beach, a slightly more affordable area, bordered by Coxwell to the east, Victoria Park to the west, north of Kingston Rd to Gerrard.
Having just listed a home in this area, I checked out the new maps to see if this neighbourhood name has been established. As it turns out, the new maps will still refer to this area as "East End Danforth", not nearly as nice a name as the Upper Beach, and sadly doesn't reflect the neighbourhood name. It's a work in progress, so I am hopeful there will be more tweaks to the maps as time goes by.
Want to check out the new listing in the "Upper Beach"? Click on the link: 196 Pickering St.
As we all know, there is no shortage of information on the Internet. It can be time consuming to sift through the endless websites that pop up with a google search.
Genworth Financial Canada is a private sector supplier for mortgage default insurance in Canada. In April they sponsored National Homeownership Education Week and created a website with lots of great information.
The site offers educational videos, a home buying quiz, a test to assess how financially fit you are and a Home buyers Course.
Check it out to test your knowledge and learn a bit more about the process of buying a home.
National Homeownership Week
