This holiday season Toronto will once again celebrate the romance and magic of a traditional Christmas at Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market. Inspired by the Old World and influenced by the New, this free annual event captures all of the tradition, heritage and charm of a European Christmas Market, while showcasing hundreds of unique and local handcrafted products. Family friendly entertainment includes musicians, carolers and children's choirs, holiday themed stage presentations, Rudolph's Reindeer Zoo and of course … Santa and his roaming elves! There is great shopping, specialty beer and mulled wine gardens, sweets and treats, and all the great restaurants of The Distillery Historic District. Come and experience the fun and magic of Toronto's first and only Christmas Market!

Decor : The 45 foot White Spruce tree featured at this year's Market was donated by Trees Ontario. The Tree is decorated with 18,000 lights and ornaments. Magical lighting and décor displays which create an incredible traditional and romantic Christmas setting for visitors to enjoy. The street and squares of the Historic Distillery are transformed into a paradise of lights and colours, festive sounds and seductive smells.

Ferris Wheel: The site houses a Ferris Wheel for people of all ages to enjoy. People take rides on the Ferris Wheel to see the Distillery and the Christmas market from an entirely new perspective or to add a little fun and romance to their day.

Music: The stage hosts many activities and musical performances including: Carolers, Bavarian brass band concerts, classical organ concerts, trumpeters, children's choirs and more. An outdoor seating area is created around the stage.

Variety of Beer and Mulled Wine: There are many areas for visitors to lounge and enjoy an authentic holiday beverage including many varieties of beer, mulled wine, hot rum beverages, European Christmas cocktails, schnapps and much more. Mulled wine is one of the most popular beverages at European Christmas Markets.

When I am asked about the latest new condo development downtown, it is hard to choose from. On almost every corner you can find a new building site in many various phases of construction from the application to amend the zoning, to Sale Centers or even a big hole in the ground with a crane in the works. It is hard to know which one of these new developments will give you the best return on investment or the best place to live. You shouldn't just play pin the tail on the donkey, you need an expert realtor who specializes in downtown condos and is up to date with all the latest news to help you with this decision.  

If you have been in the business as long as I have, you get to know the important factors that should influence your decision; LOCATION, BUILDER, PRICE & POTENTIAL GROWTH. The most obvious is location but it is amazing how many people forget to consider the number of buildings in the area, possible future developments, ease of public transportation, access in and out of the building especially in high traffic times, proximity to grocery stores, restaurants, places of work... and the list goes on.  

Right now one of the hottest areas for construction is KingWest, a pocket just North and South of King Street West stretching from Yonge Street to Bathurst. This area has seen the biggest change in all of downtown with the most new construction projects underway. However this influx of condos has pushed prices to an all time high ranging from $600 a square foot to an astonishing $900 a square foot. These prices have far surpassed the east side of Yonge Street, but has become very congested with traffic both on the roads and streetcars. Unfortunately the West side has not seen an increase in amenities such as grocery stores and parks that are important to living in a big city. 

One of my favourite investment opportunities lie on the East side of Yonge around the St. Lawrence Market area. This area has some new developments but definitely less than the West side and the prices are far more affordable around $500 a square foot. It is far less congested and has plenty of parks and grocery stores to choose from. This area is also a shorter walk to the financial district and if need be, you can catch a ride on the street car without being sandwiched in. It won't be long before KingEast catches up to KingWest as people will find it a more desirable place to live and the opportunity  lies with the more cheaper prices you can find today.

Another important factor to consider would be the BUILDER. Choosing a builder with a good reputation for quality, delivery, finishes and resale values can make a huge difference in money in your pocket. Being an investor in new construction condo projects myself along with my clients, I have seen first hand the differences in experiences from builder to builder. Having the finished product delivered on time, with the finishes as promised in the sales centre along with the quality of workmanship are important to consider when looking at the builder's reputation. How many projects has the builder done in the past? How long was the occupation time before the building registered? Does the builder have a customer care department to follow- up with deficiencies? What are the resale values of past projects? An experienced realtor should know this information or be able to get it for you. There are some really great builder's out there that deliver as promised and there are definitely a few builder's I would never work with again. 

PRICE is definitely important when considering a new purchase. The price should be attractive enough to a new buyer that is taking the risk of locking into an investment for 3-4 years not knowing where the real estate market will take us. It is amazing how many new construction projects are charging more per square foot than projects that are brand new and already built. The buyer should look at this closely as it can be more beneficial to purchase something already built and rent it out now and take advantage of these very low mortgage rates. There should be enough POTENTIAL GROWTH in the project to make the investment desirable. Also try to choose something that has value. Compare layouts and look at price per square foot in the building as they differ on the price list but not as much when it comes to resale after completion. Also, don't be fooled into paying price premiums for higher floors unless the views change dramatically. You probably will pay around $2000 extra per floor but that premium is never recouped in resale and  I find it is best to buy something in the middle of the building. 

If you are considering purchasing a new construction condo, please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or concerns.  If you already own a condo downtown and want to know how these new projects will affect you investment, I am always here to help.

I’ve been selling Toronto Condos for more than a decade and many people say that the market has gone straight up and has seen unsustainable gains. But looking back, I can tell you first hand, that the market has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride, but luckily to the upside.

There have been many events that have impacted the Toronto Condo Market. At the start of the decade we had the high tech bubble or crash. Toronto had more than 30 % of Canada’s high tech businesses and most were centered downtown. Once the startup companies that were once selling for millions had gone bust, many people were left unemployed and seeking work elsewhere. The drop in demand and big job losses caused housing prices to drop.

The tragedy of September 11, 2001 took the world by surprise and Toronto was not immune. There was stock market instability and worldwide fear of condo living and working in high rise buildings. Sales here too slumped and prices declined.

2003 was a year many Torontonians will never forget. The impact of SARS had plagued Toronto with a stigma of fear. It was a type of flu that people were afraid to leave there homes and buyers refused to visit properties in fear of catching the virus. The real estate market died at this point as activity was at an all time low.

As affordability has always been an issue in downtown Toronto, another challenge was announced in 2007 for the introduction of a second Land Transfer Tax by the City of Toronto. Taken into effect in February 2008, buyers went elsewhere to the 905 region to avoid the tax and sales once again dropped.

Then the Banking crisis of 2008 that caused mortgage lending and housing to completely collapse in the United States, caused a 10% price correction in Toronto over a 9 month period even though we had sustainable debt ratios on mortgages thanks to Canada’s mortgage regulations. The uncertainty of financial times stopped buyers altogether.

July of 2010, had the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) combining both the provincial and federal sales tax on all goods including new construction and real estate services which caused a slow down in the real estate markets as people adjusted.

We still continue to have worldwide economic problems with the Euro Debt Crisis and the Debt ceiling issues and recession worries in the United States, that have caused people to postpone any buying and selling decisions. This uncertainty slows activity but at this point prices continue to hold steady as we wait out this period.

In summary, what is truly amazing is how resilient our condo market has been over the past decade. Why does it keep bouncing back? The primary reason is the underlying economic fundamentals have not changed. Toronto is Canada’s financial capital and businesses continue to flock here. Toronto has become one of the big international cities and more people want to live here especially downtown. Toronto continually has close to 100,000 people migrating here each year and they need a place to live. Looking forward, the Toronto condo market will continue to grow and yes there will be setbacks along the way.

Growing concerns over the global economic outlook and unsettled financial markets have contributed to a notable deterioration in consumer sentiment in recent months, and have moderated domestic retail sales activity. So far, however, this does not appear to have dented Canadians’ enthusiasm for real estate. Seasonally-adjusted MLS home sales  and Toronto Condos held steady in August, and are currently tracking in line with the average of the past decade.

Encouragingly, there is a decent pool of available listings in most major centres, which is promoting
balanced conditions and steady prices. The months’ supply of inventory stood at 6.2 in August, while the national ratio of new listings to sales was 1.94, both little changed since April and consistent with a balanced market. Meanwhile, average prices were also little changed on a month-to-month basis for the sixth consecutive month.

Historically low interest rates remain a powerful draw in the interest-sensitive housing sector, and should maintain a healthy level of sales in the months ahead. Yet, heightened economic uncertainty combined with recent signs of a loss of momentum in Canada’s jobs market could keep some potential first-time and move up buyers on the sidelines for the time being. On balance, we anticipate a modest slowdown in the volume of sales transactions heading into year end. With balanced market conditions in most parts of the country, look for fairly stable prices.