By Derek Raymaker – Globe and Mail
As we wind down our state of the 905 condominium market series, it would be fair to say that the suburban belt around Toronto is rapidly coming to terms with the fact that condominium suites are for more than just single professionals.
A lot of builders and buyers would have, until recently, considered Durham Region to be a long way from being a condominium pocket of any note beyond the odd lakeshore retirement community.
That all seemed to change in May with the launch of San Francisco by the Bay in Pickering, near the Lake Ontario waterfront at Frenchman’s Bay. Most of the 350 mid-rise suites to be built in two adjacent towers on the site of a downtrodden shopping plaza were snapped up in short order. In the first weekend of sales alone, 210 of the suites and townhouses were sold.
Much of the interest, no doubt, was due to San Francisco by the Bay’s attractive price point, ranging from $149,000 for a fairly spacious 561 square feet to $230,000 for 1,147 square feet (there are also 121 townhouses ranging from $250,000 to $330,000 for up to 2,110 square feet).
But many market watchers had predicted pent-up demand for condominium suites in the string of municipalities east of Toronto because of the enormous price spikes in new detached housing over the last three years. Durham Region (Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington) had gone from an affordable tract housing market to a rapidly appreciating market overnight, with average new home prices eclipsing $350,000.
That didn’t leave a lot of room for first-time buyers and those on a budget, which has traditionally been the bread and butter of Durham Region’s new home market.
The reason housing prices went up so quickly was because Durham’s land supply had been tightened by the province’s new restrictions on municipal land use, encouraging higher density in 2004 through the Places to Grow Act.
City planners in Pickering, the Durham community just east of Scarborough, encouraged the developers of San Francisco by the Bay — S&R Development Group, Rose Corp. and Chestnut Hill Homes — to bump up its density in order to fit the Places to Grow guidelines. That move is a radical departure, as most planners are used to arm-twisting condo builders to scale down density.
On the other side of Durham, in the sprawling, semi-rural municipality of Clarington, Dunbury Homes is launching a project called the Ville.
Although the six-storey glass building is billed as a luxury project, its prices are pretty down to earth, ranging from $189,999 for 603 square feet to $269,000 for 906 square feet, with penthouses ranging from $246,000 to $360,000. All prices include parking spaces.
Oshawa has the distinction of being one of the only municipalities in Durham with a history not as a bedroom community. Over on Bond Street, Atria Developments successfully converted a derelict building into a two-tower condo development with 120 suites that is now more than 90 per cent sold.
The remaining suites at Parkwood Residences, ranging from $150,000 for 600 square feet to 300,000 for 1,189 square feet, are already built and available for occupancy with closing periods as short as 30 days.
————————————————————————————————————
Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Incoming search terms for the article:
- san francisco by the bay pickering prices
- san francisco by the bay prices
- san francisco by the bay pickering
- san francisco by the bay prices pickering
- sanfransisco by the bay pickering
- san francisco by the bay pickering prices ridgecrest
- san francisco pickering
- san francisco on the bay pricing
- san francisco on the bay pickering price
- san francisco by the bay pickering pricing