Toronto Life’s top real estate stories of 2021
Amid another crazy year—including on-again-off-again lockdowns, undulating case counts, varying gathering rules, flip-flopping travel restrictions and the late arrival of a new Greek letter—at least one thing remained consistent: our collective obsession with real estate.
In 2021, as Covid lingered and the Toronto market continued to climb, hitting an all-time high last month, with an eye-watering average sale price of $1,163,000, perhaps it’s no surprise that our readers were most interested in stories about people purchasing properties outside of the city.
Cottages in Prince Edward County, seaside shanties in Newfoundland, castles in France—if someone skipped town and scooped up their dream property, we were here writing about it.
No. 1
A Burlington waitress won the lottery in 1996 and bought this Muskoka cottage for $355,000
Luc Rinaldi | May 19
No. 2
A Vaughan family listed their home for well below market value. After 125 viewings and 14 offers, it sold for $458,000 over asking
Ali Amad | April 15
No. 3
A Toronto family bought a cottage in Prince Edward County for $685,000. Then they realized what it could fetch on the rental market
Ethan Rotberg | July 24
No. 4
A Toronto couple wanted a starter home. The city was too expensive, but they found this $375,000 detached in St. Thomas
Andrea Yu | February 11
No. 5
A Torontonian thought about purchasing a property in cottage country. Instead, she bought a $1.25-million chateau in France
Cheryl Bozynski | August 6
No. 6
A Toronto couple wanted to avoid buying a vacation property in cottage country. So they purchased this $39,000 getaway in Newfoundland
Andrea Yu | June 7
No. 7
A Toronto family moved to a $700,000 house in Grimsby. Then they spent $140,000 making it their dream home
Liza Agrba | June 16
No. 8
She listed her cottage for $399,000 and got 71 bids
Kristen Cripps | May 19
No. 9
Growing up, she dreamed about owning this Kawartha Lakes mansion. She just bought it for $1.9 million
Luc Rinaldi | May 20
No. 10
Even with a combined income of more than $200,000, a Toronto couple couldn’t afford a place in the city. So they bought a $900,000 cottage in Bracebridge instead
Andrea Yu | June 30
Do you have an interesting real estate story? We’d love to hear about it: realestate@torontolife.com
