Toronto Life featured an article about what Life in Toronto could be like in 50 years. Here is the link:
http://torontolife.com/city/
Some of the highlights include an illustration of what the Skyline could look like (see picture above)
Another story covers the Real Estate prices increase over the LAST 50 years. What do your think was the cost increase between 1966 and 2016? 6,000%!
(source credit: torontolife.com)
With rising house prices so-called “Second Suites” have been increasing in popularity due to the additional income that can help carry the mortgage bills, increase cash flow or make use of otherwise not needed space.
These five basic requirements determine if an authorized second suite can be created:
1. The principal residence must be at least five years old
2. The house must be detached or semi-detached (town/ rowhouses under certain conditions only)
3. The exterior façade of the house cannot be significantly altered
4. The second suite must occupy a smaller area than the rest of the house and it must be a single, self-contained dwelling
5. The property must meet parking requirements (dome exceptions apply for Toronto)
More detail can be found in this publication: http://www.secondsuites.info/
(Source: City of Toronto Brochure “Second Suites”)
A lot happened during the month of October: Let’s shed some light…these are the changes in a nutshell:
This one-room cabin is located on the CNE grounds. It was built by the Queen’s York Rangers in 1794 on behalf of John Scadding who served as clerk to the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Simcoe. The original cabin was disassembled from its original site and rebuilt on the current site. It is a squat, two-storey log cabin with low ceilings, designed to retain the heat from the fire in winter close to its occupants.
(source: wikipedia.com)
Over the last years Torontonians have increasingly rented out their residences on AirBnB, an online marketplace that enables people to list, find, then rent vacation homes.
For the condo and home owners it can be financially more attractive to rent out short term rather than taking in a long-term tenant. For the paying guests, private residences are usually much more affordable than hotel rooms. On the downside: Complaints through neighbors, trashed places, fines. The hotel industry is losing a lot of money and asks to have more regulations applied .
If you are an owner and rent out your condo/house you can search websites as AirBnB, Couchsurfing, Craigslist,
If you are a potential condo buyer you may want to check the condo declaration and see what it says about restrictions regarding short term rentals.
If you want to purchase a home make sure to check the zoning by-law of your future neighborhood. Most condo units will not allow short term stays and condo boards have started monitoring closer what is happening in their building.
If you own a house or you are in a building that doesn’t ban short-term rentals, make sure to find out how it will affect your insurance if you want to rent out your place. Find out if the required extra insurance will leave you enough to make it worthwhile.
(Sources: Globe and Mail, Metro News)
The Greenbelt protects environmentally sensitive land and farmlands in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe area from urban development. It contains nearly two million acres (800,000 hectares) of land – an area larger than Prince Edward Island – and is the largest and most strongly protected greenbelt in the world.
It extends 325 km from the eastern end of the Oak Ridges Moraine, near Rice Lake, in the east, to the Niagara River in the west.
The greenbelt has also been criticized: The combination of the consistently growing population in the GTA and at the same time the restriction of land supply. As such the Greenbelt is seen as one of the major factors in the continuing surge of house prices in Toronto. The provincial government projects that the area’s population will tip 8.9-million by 2036.
(Sources: The Globe and Mail and Government of Ontario Website)
Or in other words: What on earth are we celebrating? Did you know that Civic Holidays is observed in most but not all provinces, and that each province has a different reason to celebrate it? Some examples:
Alberta: Heritage Day, in honour of diverse Canadian culture and cultures around the world
Nova Scotia: Natal Day, in honour of Halifax’s birthday
Ontario: Emancipation Day, in honour of the end of slavery in the British Empire.
Only in Toronto: Simcoe Day, in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
(Source: National Post)
Did you know Canada Day makes a good Moving Day? As the rest of Canada celebrates with face painting and fireworks, Quebec opts for a mass exodus of apartments. In keeping with a decades-old tradition, most leases in Quebec expire July 1. Last year, 80,000 Quebecers took part.
(Source: readersdigest.ca)
Four new GO Transit stations will be built in the city’s west end. The new stations on the Kitchener line will be located in Liberty Village and at St. Clair Avenue and Keele Street while the new stations on the Barrie line will be located at Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue, and Spadina Avenue and Front Street.
An additional four new stations in the city’s east end will at Gerrard Street, the Port Lands (Unilever), Finch Avenue and Lawrence Avenue on the on the Stouffville/Lakeshore East GO Corridor.
(Source: CP24)
Toronto’s tree canopy cover is estimated to be between 26.6% and 28%! Of the total tree population, 6% (600,000 trees) are City owned street trees, 34% (3.5 million trees) are in City parks and natural areas, and 60% (6.1million trees) are on private lands.
Toronto has a target to increase the city’s overall tree canopy of an estimated 10.2 million trees by approximately 13% over the next 40-50 years.
(Source: City of Toronto)