n Toronto, something of a boom mentality still exists although the housing market in much of the United States may be moribund. Several hundred Toronto residents braved the cold to line up before the opening of the sales office of a new condo project. Certified checks in hand, they wanted to make sure they got their choice within Aura, a proposed 75-story residential tower scheduled to go up downtown, in March.

In Toronto, something of a boom mentality still exists although the housing market in much of the United States may be moribund. Several hundred Toronto residents braved the cold to line up before the opening of the sales office of a new condo project. Certified checks in hand, they wanted to make sure they got their choice within Aura, a proposed 75-story residential tower scheduled to go up downtown, in March.
Speculative buyers waited patiently beside heat lamps to place deposits on another 80-story slab. Despite a last-minute price hike, apartments advertised for $2 million catapulted to $8 million, sales remained heavy that was in November 2007. The average condo now sells for $394,000 Canadian (US $390,446), Prices of real estate in Toronto have risen about 5 to 6 percent a year for the past several years, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.
According to Urbanation, a firm that tracks condo development in Toronto, 21,000 condo units is expected to hit the market and an additional 35,000 units are under development, in 2008. The city is second only to the New York City region, the epicenter of condo building in North America.
A federal parliamentarian from suburban Toronto and the author of "Greater Fool: The Troubled Future of Real Estate” Garth Turner said, "People here have a sense that Toronto's economy is decoupled from the American economy and that just doesn't make any sense." Some officials question how long the city's housing market can shrug off the effects of a downturn south of the border but given how closely linked Toronto's economy is to trade with the US.
With the Canadian dollar having strengthened enough to trade virtually at par with the US dollar, the region's manufacturing base has been losing out to companies in Asia. Money spent on Hollywood productions, a staple for the city, fell in 2007, enabling Boston and Detroit to vie as the new Toronto within film circles. Other worries about the health of Toronto's economy persist.
The Toronto Dominion Bank revised its earlier estimate of 2.8 percent growth to a mere 0.5 percent, yet this gloominess hasn't seriously dented the city's real estate market. Two key differences in Canadian mortgages appear to be at work, fewer subprime loans and different tax rules. Only about 5 percent of mortgages in Toronto were subprime, while several of Canada's big five banks suffered losses stemming from investments in subprime assets, Canadian home buyers have largely steered clear.

Jron Magcale
Miami Condos Regatta2