Vancouver Real Estate Agent  Dan Miller & www.GreaterVancouverHomes.ca

Builders tearing down old houses

The Willowdale buyer who paid the premium price is stinging from the negative reaction to the sale and declined to be interviewed.

Adelson said the Yonge Street corridor between Highway 401 and Finch Avenue is in demand because of the subway and its proximity to York University and Seneca College. Along with a thriving retail strip and a planned new Whole Foods, 10 new condominium projects are in the works.

The area is a magnet for certain ethnic groups, including people from the Middle East and China, Adelson said.

"It's a cultural thing. Their communities are already there. If you go down to the Danforth, their stores are not there, so that's not as attractive a location for them."

The area is also rife with redevelopment as builders tear down older homes and replace them with monster houses or two smaller units.

That’s just what a buyer from China, who recently bought a tear-down bungalow in the area for $720,000, plans to do, said Al Sinclair, the Hallmark Realty sales representative who sold him the property.

The buyer became familiar with the area through visiting his daughter, a doctor who lives there. He plans to rent out the house for two years until his building plans are approved, then tear it down and build several townhouse units.

“He thinks the Toronto real estate market has a long way to go," Sinclair said. "He’s right."

Only pockets of Toronto are of interest to overseas investors, including North York and the downtown core and not areas like Leslieville in the east end, Adelson said. Although that neighbourhood is considererd hot and the property values are rising, it has not experienced the overheated bidding wars seen farther north.