In short: yes, even though prices throughout the GTA are rapidly climbing.
There are neighbourhoods that I feel are undervalued, and there are neighbourhoods where there is still affordable real estate. Find an area that has both, and there you have an area that is most-certainly up-and-coming.
Today, I want to look at a small pocket of bungalows, all on 35 to 45 foot lots, just northeast of the Queensway & Islington.
Development has already started, and this street is going to look a whole lot different in ten years…
Here’s a map of the area I’m talking about in the video:
If you go north of there, you’re in Norseman Heights, which is also a great area.
But Norseman Heights is already somewhat established, and the real estate prices show it.
If we’re truly looking for “up-and-coming,” then you have to head further south, and thus we end up in the highlighted area.
The last sale for a bungalow on Lady Bank Road was in June of 2015 for $745,000, on a 41 x 131 foot lot.
That’s fantastic value, both immediate, and long term.
On my way to an appointment on Friday night, I also shot a quick video of the houses on Van Dusen Boulevard – same sort of idea, just a more established area, thus higher prices.
That, and it was way darker, so excuse the less-than-average quality video…
CB
at 9:24 am
Go dead south from there (between Royal York and Islington and between the lake and the Gardiner) and you can buy the same house on a 35×125 lot for $550K-600K. Prices are at least $100K lower for the same house and you have better transit options.
Buckley B. Buckington
at 10:40 am
Stick to writing about Riverdale, we don’t want an even bigger yuppie influx out here in South Etobicoke than there already is!!
Name
at 1:44 pm
Buckley, to suggest you’re against developing bungalows into larger two story homes and maximizing the value for the land is like saying you’re against automation in factories, and you’d like to see people working at 1/10th the efficiency of machinery.
The city is expanding. Highest and best use of a property will continue to prevail.
Buckley B. Buckington
at 10:31 am
Yes, but I’d rather they do that stuff away from me 🙂
Ed
at 11:54 am
another up and coming area will be Weston and Mount Dennis. More to do with much improved transit option going forward rather than lot sizes.
Kyle
at 5:28 pm
Agreed, you can get fully detached homes on large lots with parking galore for under 600K, and get to Union in 20 minutes on your choice of UPX or GO for $5. Once the Eg crosstown is complete, you can also get to Yonge line or quickly get to the soon to be extended Universtiy line. I can’t imagine that prices are going to stay where they are for very long.
Frank
at 12:47 pm
Actually just head directly south of the Gardiner and there’s even more development happening. For about 600k you’ll get a nice teardown, the lot will be smaller though.
Cool Koshur
at 8:11 pm
@David
Good Observation…I was actually looking at that area (The Queensway) couple of weeks ago. It is still “affordable” by Toronto standards. I concur with @CB that prices are at least 100K less down south. There are deals in area between Brown’s Line (on east) and Royal York Rd (on West) and below QEW.
Brandon
at 9:52 pm
Up and coming suburbs? Priced out of Vaughan And Markham? Even Scarborough looking expensive. What? Queensville too far north? New area at Pickering north called Seaton will be building 30,000 + homes. Several builders already started selling.
jeff316
at 7:12 am
North of Eglinton, west of the Allen
Geoff
at 11:33 am
not the best area though, really. Which is surprising, given that’s it’s so close to forrest hill. maybe not that surprising actually.
Kyle
at 11:53 am
But that’s really the nature of all “up and coming” areas. If it were a great area already, then it would have already “up and came”.
20-30 years ago, no one wanted to live in Parkdale, Trinity Bellwoods, Beaconsfield Village (even though this name didn’t exist), Hillcrest, Upper Beaches, etc. Ironically, people would leave these areas and go to the suburbs, as soon as they “made it”. And now their kids are coming back to these hoods, as soon as they “make it”. And even as recently as 10-15 years ago, no one wanted to live in Roncy (again this name didn’t exist), Dufferin Grove, The Junction, Leslieville, Riverside, New Toronto, Long Branch, etc.
jeff316
at 12:33 pm
Yeah, past The Allen begins a long, crummy stretch of Eglinton, but it’s not super far from the subway and there will be Eglinton crosstown line there eventually.
But really, the main reason is that you’ll have prime pickings from the evaporating Italiano homeowners which have kept up their 2-3 bedroom bungalows to an exceptional standard (for the most part). Most will be immediately liveable, and the city usually lets you put in a second story if you do everything right. When the time comes, most of their families just wanna sell those homes and get it done. Value and opportunity.
daniel
at 3:35 pm
Agreed. Caledonia Fairbanks is pre-gentrifying but far from dead. I own 2x properties here.
bugeyedbrit
at 9:24 pm
up and coming is a misnomer, really we are talking about about areas that are deemed cheap compared to other somewhat comparable hoods, its an ever upward spiral, people are priced out of certain areas, so they find the next best strata they can afford, this pushes prices in that area up, so people again look for another cheaper area, rinse wash and repeat……
daniel
at 3:36 pm
Try Corso-Italia Davenport, or Caledonia Fairbanks. Also, Mimico is great.