[URBAN NOTE] "Price gap between new houses and condos hits $300K in Toronto"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC reports on the growing real estate crunch in Toronto (and Vancouver).

The gap between the price of new condos and the price of new homes is widening in Toronto, hitting close to $300,000 in February according to RealNet.

RealNet figures show the average price of new detached home or townhouse was $733,578 in February, compared with $442,672 for a condo, a difference of $290,906.

And while the price of a new home is up 12 per cent from this time last year, the price of a new condo has inched up by just one per cent.

"It’s similar to the trend in Vancouver," said Brendan Pyne, RealNet Canada business development manager. “Toronto is 10 years behind Vancouver in terms of the difference in the housing market.”

There is a limited amount of new land for single-family dwellings, most of it in the 905 area, he said.

That’s forced developers to consider high-density development and thousands of new condos are under construction or coming onto the market this year.