We have always talked about downtown Toronto, is the best for Condo investment. But there are many different neighborhoods within downtown, which neighborhood has the best potential for Toronto Condos investing?
The core downtown Toronto area is bounded by Don Valley Parkway on the east Bathurst Street on the west, the Bloor Street on the north, and Lake Ontario on the south. You can pretty much see where central downtown is just by the density. It is essentially defined by the U shape subway line.
There are six key components that attract people and draw more demands into downtown Toronto.
1) Number one neighborhood in downtown Toronto for Condo Investors is The Financial District. This is the heart of, not just Toronto, but Canada’s finance and banking industry. That’s the district with the highest density, where all the skyscrapers are located. More than 200,000 people work in the financial district during the day. There’s really no more space left in this area of Toronto to build a new condo.
2) Number two neighborhoods in downtown Toronto Condos Investors are Universities Area. The best university in Canada is in downtown Toronto, The University of Toronto (UofT). There are 63,000 students attending the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. Also, there are 45,000 students attending Ryerson University. There are also a lot of people who work in these universities. The two universities, drive over 100,000 people into downtown Toronto.
3) Number three neighborhoods in downtown Toronto for Condo Investors is The Hospital Area.
Where’s the best Hospital in Canada? The Toronto General Hospital.
Where’s the best Children Hospital in Canada? The SickKids hospital.
What about the best cancer research in Canada? Princess Margaret Hospital.
The hospital district draws all the best doctors and medical staff to downtown Toronto.
4) Number four neighborhoods in Downtown Toronto East for Condo Investors is The Eaton Centre Area. The Eaton center is the biggest shopping mall in downtown Toronto. It is also a famous tourist destination because it is right next to Toronto’s “Times Square”, the Yonge and Dundas Square.
5) Number five neighborhoods in downtown Toronto for Condo Investors the Entertainment District. This is where the CN Tower and the Rogers center are located. You will find the best restaurants and bars in Toronto in this area. So, it is an area full of fun and energy. The tech district is just north of the entertainment district, and that’s where all the tech jobs are.
6) Number six neighborhoods in downtown Toronto Condos Investors theWaterfront. The waterfront is arguably the most beautiful area in downtown Toronto. Many people love to live by the water and are willing to pay high premiums, to get a Lake View Suite.
So these are the six key components in the Condo market in downtown Toronto. Now, let’s talk about pricing. Anything along, and within the U shape subway is going to be expensive in today’s market, July 2020, the one-bedroom unit will be around, $700,000, if you want to invest in this central area, you would most likely need to look for a resale unit, since there’s not much land available for new developments. On the north side of the U shape Subway, there is a small, but the most luxurious neighborhood in downtown Toronto, Yorkville. This is where you find the most expensive brand name shops, $500 per person sushi restaurant, The Four Seasons Hotel, and so on. That is also where you find a million dollars in a one-bedroom unit.
The most modern neighborhood closest to the U is the entertainment district. There were lots of new developments in this area over the past decade. It is right next to the financial district, and the tech district. So, the value in this area has gone up to almost the same level as within the U around $700,000 for a one-bedroom unit. New developments may still become available in this area, but they will be quite rare. If you move further west to the city place, you will find one bedroom unit below, $650,000.
What about future potentials? The greatest growth potential in downtown Toronto in the next 10 to 20 years will be on the east side of downtown. They are two areas I would recommend investing in:
1)Number one neighborhoods with the greatest growth potential in downtown Toronto: the South financial core.
Let’s talk about Union Station. It is a major railway and subway station. It also connects directly to Toronto Condos Pearson airport. As a result, it is a transportation hub into the financial district. Union Station is the busiest transportation hub in Canada with approximately 250,000 visitors passing through the station, every day.
We saw that the financial district, north of Union Station, is already jammed packed with no space left. Therefore, the plan is to go south, and that east along the waterfront expansion to the south has already started 10 years ago. And you can see the area is already filled up with the new office and residential towers. There are numerous ongoing developments along the East Bayfront. So, in a few years, the aerial view of the area is going to look completely different. The government has a 25-year plan to develop the 190-acre piece of land from Quayside to the Port Lands.
It is expected to create 40,000 new residences and 40,000 new jobs. As a result, anything along the East Bayfront around the Distillery District and St Lawrence market area will be of great potential in the longer term.
2) Number two neighborhoods with the greatest growth potential in downtown Toronto is along Dundas Street East.
On the east end of Dundas, we have to Regent Park revitalization, which started around 15 years ago, and it is already proven to be a huge success.
What about in between the Eaton center and Regent Park. Many developments have started around church and Dundas, as well as Jarvis and Dundas, eight years ago. It’s not hard to imagine the growth potential as they are just five to 10 minutes away from the Eaton center.
It will probably take another 10 years for the neighborhoods around these two intersections, to be fully revitalized. So, I would consider any opportunities around those two areas to be good opportunities because they are the closest to Yonge and Dundas