Toronto Housing Market a Magnet for Millennial Home Buyers

Toronto Housing Market a Magnet for Millennial Home Buyers: Even with home prices dramatically on the rise, Toronto millennials are still willing to make the move to call the city their home.  As a magnet for young talent and entrepreneurship, Toronto was recently named the most desirable city to move to for real estate, according to a poll conducted by Finder.com.

Toronto Housing Market a Magnet for Millennial Home Buyers

Christina Crowley-Arklie and Andrew Arklie can attest to the survey.  The couple purchased their first home together in Toronto, despite the financial obstacles. 

“Owning real estate has been extremely important to us and our financial goals,” says Christina, particularly given that it’s not easy for millennials to achieve in today’s market.” The Arklie’s work together to manage a rental property they own as an investment, cutting the grass and collecting rents, in order to afford their mortgage.  

After three years of saving, William Cole bought his first home in Toronto’s Bloordale Village at the age of 24.  Cole said that he had to buckle down on his spending for a while to be able to own his own property. His condo, with trendy architectural features like exposed brick and high ceilings, make him one of the 40 percent of millennials who own homes in the city.

Construction developers, however, will need to consider more than architectural touches to entice millennials into the market. While affordability remains the top criteria for millennial buyers in Toronto, this generation has unique needs and desires that are different from past groups.

For example, features that are important to this population include a direct connection to downtown, more square footage and common spaces that match millennial lifestyles.  Jared Menkes, executive vice president of highrises at Menkes Developments, says millennials care about community building, mixed-use neighbourhoods and being close to transit.   Starting at $380 thousand, projects like Mobilio in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre are attracting a younger crowd.

“We design amenities that appeal to a younger demographic, such as co-work spaces, which provide a place to work outside of your suite and also help to maintain a better work-life balance,” Menkes says.  

Not surprising though, affordability is still the main selling point for most millennials.  Larry Weltman, customer service representative at AccessEasyFunds, a leading commission advance company, advises millennials who can’t quite afford some of the well-sought-out neighborhoods of downtown to take a closer look at the city’s older areas, which are making a slow comeback.  

“If living downtown in a posh high rise is unreachable, the good news is, Toronto offers a number of up-and-coming neighborhoods that may better fit the budget,” adds Larry Weltman.

According to a report from RE/MAX, millennials have helped revitalize “tired neighbourhoods” such as the Junction, South Parkdale, Bloorcourt and Dovercourt Park as they purchased affordable resale homes.

Whether you’re still living the student lifestyle on an adult income to buy your ideal home; or you purchased a less expensive fixer-upper; one thing is for certain, the appeal for homeownership in Toronto is just heating up.

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