Condo mania
A friend popped by the other day to say that her daughter, in her mid-20s, had just bought a condo. Oh, and by the way, her son, barely out of his teens, had bought one as well. But he wouldn't be taking possession for another four years - when the building is finished.
It was all said so matter-of-factly. No one batted an eye. In fact, when I think about it, there are at least a dozen young people of my acquaintance who own their own condos, usually either down by the lake or in the downtown entertainment area. Others - including the two who shelter for the most part under my roof - are following the ads for studio-sized condos and urban lofts with unusual interest.
For these boomer kids, condo ownership is seen as the ultimate symbol of independence and self-reliance. Though why those in their 20s would want to saddle themselves with 25 years or more of mortgage payments is beyond me.
We are seeing two fundamental social revolutions here. One is an ever-younger desire for home ownership - well before the family-raising years and fuelled mightily by lifestyle advertising. The other is the transformation of the downtown core in once-stodgy, business-tower-only cities like Toronto.
According to one recent market report, Toronto had the most active condo market in all of North America in the first half of this year. It was more bullish even than New York, Miami, boomtown Calgary or Vancouver. No fewer than 53,000 units here were either under construction or on the planning board at that point. Some 18,000 were sold last year.
Most days it feels like every vacant lot, no matter how tiny or how close to an expressway, has dreams of touching the sky. Vistas are changing daily because of all the new vertically gated communities popping up. So is the downtown lifestyle: the entertainment district is open late, seven days a week. People actually walk home from work. Joggers are everywhere, even in the evenings.
The last time Toronto went through a condo boom, in the 1980s, the craze - and the crash that followed - was attributed to an influx of monied young professionals and property speculators. This time, it's supposed to be different. We're told there are more 'real' buyers out there who know exactly what they want. But how many 20-year-olds know exactly what they want?
The real question is, what happens when this new generation of downtown concrete dwellers wants to start families, and decides it needs something bigger than an urban loft? There is no equivalent, second-wave population boomlet following behind to take up the housing slack.
Are we parents supposed to bail them out again and sail downtown to some chi-chi condo while they move back to the suburbs? That's not a bad idea, actually. Pass the brochures.
