The newest housing market hot spots are in Scarborough and Etobicoke

Regardless of whether the Toronto real estate market is or isn’t crash-bound, there’s one fact everyone can agree on: overall, home prices are up. Way up, according to a new report put out by MPAC, the corporation that conducts Ontario’s property assessments, which says prices have jumped 23 per cent since 2008. Interestingly, it’s not much-buzzed about areas like Roncesvalles or Leaside that posted the biggest gains. Instead, values have risen the most in modest neighbourhoods in northwest and southwest Scarborough, Etobicoke’s Mimico and areas north of Bloor Street near the subway. The report also explains that lowly bungalows have become the subject of fierce competition—prices have shot up 50 per cent—because land-hungry buyers want to plow them down and build their dream homes on the lots. That confirms what we suspected, but it still doesn’t make $1 million-plus bungalows easier to stomach. [Moneyville]