When it comes to the Ontario housing market, it seems more and more like homes are just selling themselves. But that doesn't mean some creativity in marketing isn't involved.
Take, for example, a house that just came on the market at 13 Ferrier Avenue in Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood. With no walls, floors, or ceilings in sight, the house isn't exactly move-in ready. But in the listing, the gutted-to-the-studs property is favourably, and rather liberally, described as "open concept on all floors."
Despite its uninhabitable state, and that fact that it's being sold in as-is condition, the property is by no means cheap, listed with a $998,990 asking price. And with the Toronto market continuing to surge, there's a strong likelihood that the home will sell for much more.
Photos of the house reveal what appears to be an abandoned construction job, with stacks of insulation and plywood, garbage cans, and crates of construction materials left about the house.
Specs:
- Address: 13 Ferrier Avenue
- Bedrooms: 0
- Bathrooms: 2
- Price: $$998,990
- Listed by: Johnston and Green Real Estate Ltd.
Anyone willing to take on the property -- and the construction work that will come along with it -- will get themselves a two-and-a-half-storey home with nearly 2,000 sq. ft of floor space. The property is located just steps away from Danforth Avenue and is a few minutes walk to the subway, so the location alone is likely to be highly sought after.
With construction prices soaring during the pandemic -- and the bulk of the costs being passed on to consumers -- it's not all too surprising that homes are hitting the market as-is with unfinished construction work. In the fall of last year, Scott McLellan, Senior Vice President of Plaza Corp. in Toronto, said that the price of many construction materials have doubled.
Steel, for example, went from $2,500-2,800 a unit in January 2021 to nearly $4,500-5,000 a unit by October. Lumber has faced its own set of issues, with backorders mounting during the beginning of the pandemic as mills became inoperative, causing prices to soar. Although lumber costs seemed to have spiked near the end of 2020, they're still significantly higher than before the pandemic.
50 Dorset Avenue (Real Estate Advisors Inc.)
The Ferrier Avenue house isn't the only one of late to hit the market with unfinished work. Just this month, a half-finished home in Scarborough came up for sale as-is with an asking price of $1,288,888. Despite its lack of doors, siding, drywall, floors, or ceilings, the property sold in just four days for $1.5M.
And currently on the market is a detached house at 725 Galloway Crescent in Mississauga. Its interior is very similar to the Ferrier Avenue house in that there's nothing to it. The listing describes the property as an "opportunity" to "finish this home to your specifications." And over at 97 Madelaine Avenue in Scarborough, the house there is on the market with an unfinished sun room addition.
725 Galloway Crescent (New Era Real Estate)
97 Madelaine Avenue (Benchmark Signature Realty Inc.)
Although a construction undertaking may not be every buyer's dream, if the current market has revealed anything, it's that there's always a buyer who's willing to scoop up just about any type of property.
