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That was a little before my time! But Toronto has gone from a kind of provincial city where everyone with a job could afford a two bedroom apartment or small house, to one where most people should expect to live in pretty tight living conditions, in the span of 20 years.

To the extent that it pushes people into more dense living arrangements, it's great. To the extent that we don't build family-sized apartments and push people out into sprawl, it's a disaster.
 
i was just watching this today, seems Calgary Condos are a better investment then Toronto Condos when it comes to downpayment, cashflow and rents, the numbers are shocking if your used to Toronto prices
 
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This is from the Globe and Mail story on Calgary real estate today.
Buildings in gold are more than 50% vacant.
Buildings in red are more than 90% vacant, or completely abandoned, save a security contingent to patrol them.
Uncoloured buildings are residential, institutional, or government without commercially available space to lease.

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They note that much automation of the business side of the O&G sector has happened, and outsourcing and offshoring of jobs like accounting and finance on top of that means that many of the jobs that existed here in 2012 will never return, no matter if the price of Canadian oil rises above $100/barrel again. Those white-collar jobs are permanently gone.

Beyond that, look how many surface parking lots they still have which even in the boom times developers decided couldn't be made worth it to turn into something.
 
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Beyond that, look how many surface parking lots they still have which even in the boom times developers decided couldn't be made worth it to turn into something.
That mind you, is one assumption.

The developers decided they didn't find it worth turning those lots into something today. Not that they couldn't profit from hypothetically putting up a condo on the site today had they wanted to. The safer assumption I think, is that they are land banking it in anticipation of even greater returns in the future due to changes in regulatory environment or economic climate within the city.
 
if i was selling a peice of land in GTA , i would put a toy house on the lot as a joke in the realtor listing photos 😂🤣😂😅
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Instead of being furious, stop voting for governments that pump endless cheap credit into the economy. :rolleyes:

But for now:

 
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Instead of being furious, stop voting for governments that pump endless cheap credit into the economy. :rolleyes:
that is not the only case, look at Japan , very cheap credit/super low interest rates and they still they have cheap housing due to good planning and zoning

the problem in Toronro/GTA is on the provincial & municipal level and dumb zoning and so much red tape when it comes to building anything and building permits

Slow permit processes undermine Canada’s competitiveness​

 
That was a little before my time! But Toronto has gone from a kind of provincial city where everyone with a job could afford a two bedroom apartment or small house, to one where most people should expect to live in pretty tight living conditions, in the span of 20 years.

To the extent that it pushes people into more dense living arrangements, it's great. To the extent that we don't build family-sized apartments and push people out into sprawl, it's a disaster.
If I was starting out my career and adult life there‘s no way I would stay in Toronto. There any many cheaper cities and towns in Canada that still have jobs, more so now that remote work is becoming a thing. In 2004 I moved to Fredericton, NB and my house cost less than $200k. Even today the housing there is affordable. But Toronto, it’s never going to be affordable again.
 
If I was starting out my career and adult life there‘s no way I would stay in Toronto. There any many cheaper cities and towns in Canada that still have jobs, more so now that remote work is becoming a thing. In 2004 I moved to Fredericton, NB and my house cost less than $200k. Even today the housing there is affordable. But Toronto, it’s never going to be affordable again.
I've been pushing my friends who have bought or looking to buy property to leave Toronto. They're all smart and hard working people and they would do well just about in any modern western country. But not everyone can leave Toronto. Some have aging family they need to care for, others don't wish to leave friends and start over in a new place. "Reasons" and such.
 
If I was starting out my career and adult life there‘s no way I would stay in Toronto. There any many cheaper cities and towns in Canada that still have jobs, more so now that remote work is becoming a thing. In 2004 I moved to Fredericton, NB and my house cost less than $200k. Even today the housing there is affordable. But Toronto, it’s never going to be affordable again.
I would love to live in Halifax, love the snow and ice. It's not the place to age if you are alone tho.
 
I sometimes chuckle when OCAP or the ilk complain about the gentrification of Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets, when clearly they started off as gentry, turned to slums and are now if anything, regentrifying.
 

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