This Toronto house is somehow listed for under $700,000
Toronto's real estate market has cooled considerably from its pandemic-era insanity, but finding a detached house for under $700,000 still feels like spotting some sort of mythical creature.
And yet, 54 Westbourne Ave. has just hit the market for $688,800.
Of course, the Scarborough home is relatively cheap for a reason.
The front entrance.
This isn't a meticulously renovated, move-in-ready dream home with a designer kitchen and spa-like bathrooms. In fact, the listing is pretty upfront that the property is aimed at "investors, builders, and first-time home buyers ready to make their mark."
The back of the house with the missing siding.
There are even sections of siding missing from the house, so, in short, you're going to need to put a fair amount of work in.
The dining room and kitchen.
But what you're getting for $688,800 is something that's becoming increasingly difficult to find in Toronto: a six-bedroom, four-bathroom detached house on a genuinely substantial piece of land.
The backyard.
The home sits on an oversized 45-by-105-foot lot, giving future owners plenty of room to renovate, expand or potentially start fresh, subject, of course, to the necessary approvals.
There's also a private double driveway and attached garage.
A second kitchen in the basement.
And while the house itself isn't exactly going to win any design awards in its current state, the interior is surprisingly decent considering the price.
The living room that walks out to the backyard.
It's dated and definitely needs some love, but it has hardwood floors, plenty of windows, and enough space to see the potential.
The property is also close to TTC routes, schools, parks, grocery stores, shopping and restaurants, while the DVP and Highway 401 are both relatively easy to reach.
The wood-panelled stairway to the basement.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about the surprisingly low asking price is that it comes at a time when home values in the surrounding area have been moving decidedly in the wrong direction.
The main floor.
Detached homes in the neighbourhood have recently sold for between approximately $695,000 and $1,087,500, with an average price of around $785,925.
But detached home prices are also down roughly 20 per cent year-over-year, while overall property values in the area have dropped around 15 per cent over the past 12 months.
The dining room.
And given what's been happening nearby, that dramatic decline isn't entirely surprising.
For years, the stretch of Scarborough known as the Golden Mile was expected to undergo an enormous transformation, with the arrival of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT helping spark plans for thousands upon thousands of new condo units.
A bathroom on the main floor.
Then Toronto's condo market crashed.
The living room with a wood-burning fireplace.
As the Toronto Star recently reported, the downturn has upended a massive redevelopment plan for the Golden Mile, once envisioned to repopulate the area with as many as 75 towers.
The kitchen.
With condo presales drying up and developers rethinking projects across the city, the scale and timing of the area's anticipated transformation suddenly look a lot less certain.
The backyard.
It's a pretty remarkable shift for a neighbourhood that, not all that long ago, seemed destined for a massive development boom.
And against that backdrop, a six-bedroom detached house on a 45-foot-wide lot asking less than $700,000 feels like another sign of just how dramatically Toronto's real estate market has changed.
The kitchen in the heart of the home.
That doesn't necessarily mean 54 Westbourne Ave. is a screaming bargain. The $688,800 asking price could simply be designed to generate attention and multiple offers, and whoever buys the place will have to factor in the potentially substantial cost of fixing it up.
The back of the house.
Still, when the average detached house in the neighbourhood is selling for close to $800,000, seeing one listed for less than $700,000 is enough to turn some heads... Missing siding and all.
