Price Check: A stately east-end throwback, a townhouse in Etobicoke or a bungalow by the Bluffs?

This April, the average GTA home was selling for $1.15 million—about eight per cent less than last year’s runaway prices. And yet, the average home remains well beyond the means of the average Torontonian. A recent Zoocasa report found that the annual income required to buy a home in this city is about $168,000, nearly double the current median household income. So what does a below-market-average home look like? Here are three different two-bedrooms in three different neighbourhoods that recently sold for less than $850,000.

Related: A brick fortress in North York, a skinny two-storey in the Beaches or a modernist box in Etobicoke?

Greenwood-Coxwell: a Federal-style throwback

Sold for: $735,000
Listing price: $739,000
Date sold: April 25, 2023
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Size: 900 square feet
Maintenance fees: $524 a month

In early February, this two-bedroom condo townhouse was listed for just under $750,000. Located in one of the east end’s most family-friendly neighbourhoods, the place is a short walk from Woodbine Beach and plenty of parks. However, it came with monthly maintenance fees of more than $500. Plus, the market was cold in the winter, so the listing sat with no takers for a month. The sellers decided to wait until mid-April to list the place again and dropped their ask by $11,000. This time, it only took a week before a buyer snagged it for $735,000—a deal at $4,000 below asking.

Islington: a three-storey brick box

Sold for: $700,000
Listing price: $699,800
Date sold: April 28, 2023
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Size: 700 square feet
Maintenance fees: $262 a month

First put up for sale back in December, this three-storey, two-bedroom condo townhouse in Etobicoke near Islington station was initially listed at $730,000. Though similarly priced to the Greenwood-Coxwell townhouse, this one has a few more downsides—it’s far from the core and roughly 200 square feet smaller. On the plus side: its $262 monthly maintenance fees are around half the cost. But that wasn’t enough of a draw for buyers, and the home languished for the entire winter. Eventually, the sellers dropped their ask to $699,800, closer to market value. That course correction did the trick, and it sold for $700,000 in late April.

Related: What does $1.5 million get you? Three neighbourhoods offer three wildly different properties

Oakridge: a semi with a backyard

Sold for: $830,000
Listing price: $699,000
Date sold: April 20, 2023
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Size: roughly 1,000 square feet
Maintenance fees: N/A

In mid-April, this two-bedroom semi in Scarborough was listed at $699,000. There are some key differences between it and the townhouses above: no maintenance fees and a couple hundred extra square feet of living space. Other perks include 11-foot-ceilings and a backyard, plus it’s just a short walk to the Danforth and the Bluffs. Buyers took notice, and the home was on the market for only nine days before it was purchased for $830,000—nearly triple the $300,000 it had sold for in 2015 and more than $130,000 over asking.

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