An inside look at 573,948 Toronto homes

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/realestate/article/806963--an-inside-look-at-573-948-toronto-homes

Pssst . . . wanna buy Toronto? Got a cool $254 billion?

That’s the total value of Toronto’s 573,948 single family homes, according to the property assessments, although in our current, overheated real estate market the actual sales figure could be 20 per cent more. That huge number is based on an exclusive Star analysis of the Municipal Property Assessment Corp’s (MPAC’s) property assessment data. Our number-crunching provides a snapshot of Toronto real estate that’s never been taken before, and has unearthed some startling statistics:

• The biggest house in the city, with more than 31,000 square feet of living space, is 100 times the size of the smallest, with a mere 294.
• Condos make up 75 per cent of homes built since 2000. In 2008, condos were 86 per cent of new homes.
• Condo buyers are increasingly paying more for less. Assessments for newly built condos have skyrocketed to more than $400 per square foot — 40 per cent above the overall average of $288 — while the size has dropped 20 per cent over 10 years to an average of 795 sq. ft. in 2008.
• More than 4,600 condos are less than 500 square feet.
• The assessment rate for new detached houses — which are being built bigger — is 10 per cent above the overall average at $300 per square foot.
• New, semi-detached houses offer the best deal per square foot. Assessment rates are less than $200 per square foot, 20 per cent below the overall $251 average.
• In 39 of Toronto’s 532 census tract neighbourhoods, the average assessed value of a detached house is more than $1 million. Across the city, 24,000 detached houses are assessed at more than $1 million — and 33 at more than $10 million.
• In 20 neighbourhoods, the average assessment is less than $300,000, and in one area, less than $200,000.
• The largest condo in the official records is more than 8,000 square feet, 40 times larger than the smallest, with less than 200 square feet.
• The average assessment of single-family homes in Toronto is $442,935, based on the estimated resale price in January 2008. The average resale price of single-family homes in Toronto in the past year was $447,609, and for April was $479,340, according Toronto Real Estate Board figures.

These numbers paint an extremely detailed portrait of Toronto property values.

Catherine Farley can be reached at cfarley@thestar.ca.