You can buy this patch (pictured above) of Toronto real estate for $829,000, presuming bidders don’t jack up the listing price. And by this patch, we don’t mean the one with the slim townhouse erected on it. We mean the patch of grass, the sidewalk and the parking space where the blue Lexus is sitting.
The listing at 24 Brick Court is selling the opportunity to build a custom home adjacent to a row of townhouses, while dangling variances and permit plans to build a five-storey home and laneway garage from architect Craig Race.
The lot is a meagre 15.17 by 92.4 feet, with the rear end narrowing a bit according to the listing on Toronto real estate site realtor.ca. Assuming building costs of $450 per square foot – which is what a lot of quotes will get you due to supply chain issues and demand for labour in Toronto – an 1,800 square foot home could easily come in at $810,000, on top of the purchase price for the real estate itself.
And the price could go up from there, especially since 24 Brick is in Leslieville, adjacent to a playground and dog park, with Lake Shore and Queen East on either side.
Sales have been cooling, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), after the recent hike in mortgage rates. The number of transactions in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) dropped 27 per cent from March to April, and the average selling price was $1,300,082 in April, dropping a single per cent month-to-month. The average selling price for a detached home in the 416 was $1,947,975, which is slightly up since March, but down from the February peak at $2,073,989.
“Many households sped up their home purchase and entered into a transaction in 2021,” says TRREB President Kevin Crigger in a statement, “which is one reason the number of sales were forecasted to be lower this year and a trending towards higher borrowing cost will have a moderating effect on home sales. Substantial immigration levels and a continued lack of supply, however, will have a countering effect to increasing mortgage costs.”
