From Outhouse to Penthouse

Toronto’s real estate market finished strong as prices increased by double digits across all segments.  December volumes were down from historic highs of 2020.

From an annualized perspective, prices and sales volumes were higher in 2021 lead by the freehold sector where prices grew by double digits.  Sales volumes increased dramatically in the condo sector which saw 6% price growth.  Stop if you haven’t heard this before, but the increases in prices were attributable to tight supply which hovered at around one month of inventory.

Stay tuned next month for the official real estate board forecast for 2022.

As we do our January editions of Real Estate Confidential, we will close out the year with what could have been in 2021 for high and low options in Toronto’s real estate market.

Freehold High:

If you had $29,800,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you could have this 9 bedroom, 13 washroom property on the Bridle Path.

Freehold Low:

If you’re looking to build your dream home, a development lot with 30’ frontage x 167’ depth could have been yours for $260,000 in Rockcliffe (Weston and St. Clair Ave. W).  BYOP – Bring Your Own Portalet

Condo High:

And if cutting grass and shoveling snow isn’t your cup of tea, you could have bought this 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 4,000 sq ft condo in Rosedale for a cool $11,600,000.

Condo Low:

Alternatively, if you wanted to save a few ducats, there is this 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom 725 square foot unit (with parking!) for only $157,500 in Black Creek (Jane St. and Steeles Ave. W)

Now, over to Shen….

Shen Shoots the Breeze:

We were looking forward to celebrating Christmas 2021 in a big way compared to the last one when it was just the 2 of us with takeout from Batifole – located around the corner from our real estate office.

In early December, we planned a Christmas gathering of 23 people; however as the variant surged and restrictions were put in place, we dwindled from 23 to 15 and finally 10. (Right before Christmas, Ontario announced private gathering limits to 10 people indoors). This was the first time in over 2 decades when all the guests around the table were related as we usually include friends and guests who do not have family in town to celebrate with (Tip: it makes for family gatherings to be more fun and mitigates any awkward family arguments).

As many of you know, I love to cook and am always interested in new food adventures and learning about other food cultures. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with anything Yotam Ottolenghi related. Several years ago, I tackled cooking through his Jerusalem cookbook. For Christmas, we decided to take a non-traditional route and skipped the turkey, ham and roast beef. Instead, I opted to make a slow-cooked lamb shouldermushroom celebration sticky rice cake (vegan – even though no one from the family is vegan), recipes by Ottolenghi and a Vietnamese-inspired Shaking Beef. One of my 2022 projects is to cook through his very first cookbook, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.

I’d be interested to know how you spent your holiday gatherings. Do you undertake the task of cooking? Do you have any traditional dishes or did you experiment with new ones?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *