If what’s “best” is often subjective, let’s turn it objective by getting specific. Here’s the best investment area in the GTA, the best value for a home, the best selection when buying and the best place to sell right now.
Best Investment
If you were looking for the best place to have invested in the last year, Halton Hills was the best. If you bought a townhouse in Halton Hills in August of last year, you would have paid 17% less than what people are paying now.
For detached homes, the best investment area was Burlington, which went 10.1% year over year. It was Innisfil for semi-detached homes, which went up 7.2% over the past 12 months. If we look at townhouses, the best investment area was Halton Hills at 17% increase year over year. Finally, for the best investment in a condo, you would have had to have bought in Mississauga, which went up 12.2% over the past year.
Best Value
If you’re looking for the most home for the least amount of money, we can tell you the best options for value.
As of September 6, 2019, here’s the best value homes in the GTA for each type. In all cases, we’ve set the same criteria and found the lowest price property that meet the criteria.
Detached
193 Athol Street East, Oshawa
If you’re looking for a three bedroom, three washroom, two-storey detached home with a detached garage, then this property is the best value with a list price of only $429,000.
Semi-detached
238 Brookhill Boulevard, Clarington
If you want a three bedroom, three washroom, two-storey semi-detached home with a detached garage, then you can find the best value home of this type in Clarington, listed at $549,900.
Townhouse
199 Carnwith Drive East, Whitby
When we turn to townhouses, the best value home of this type (three bedroom, three washroom, two-storey townhouse with a detached garage) is in Whitby, listed at $564,900.
Condo Apartment
4185 Shipp Drive, Unit 1615, Mississauga
On the condo apartment side, when we look for two bedroom, two washroom condos with one parking spot, the best value is found with this unit, asking only $299,000.
Best Selection
If you’re looking for the best selection, as defined by the highest number of active listings, then here’s the best area within each of TREB’s seven regions as of August, 2019.
Halton
Oakville has the highest number of active listings in Halton, with 731 homes to choose from if you’re looking to buy.
Peel
Mississauga has narrowly beat out Brampton for the highest number of options, with 1,242 homes on the market. In case you’re curious, Brampton has 1,229 homes for sale.
Toronto
If you want to buy a home in Toronto, then it’s Toronto Central where you’ll find the most number of options, with 2,466 homes for sale.
York
Richmond Hill has the best selection in York region right now, with 839 homes available for sale.
Durham
Oshawa wins the award for the highest number of options of homes on the market, with 453 properties currently listed.
Dufferin
Orangeville is both the best option and only option when it comes to stats for the highest number of listings, with 85 properties for sale.
Simcoe
Innisfil has the best selection within Simcoe county, with 457 homes for sale.
Best Place to Sell
Finally, if you want to know the best place to sell in the GTA as of August, 2019, then we’re going to define it simply as the area that sees home sell the quickest.
With an average of 25 days on market across the GTA as a whole, it is Brampton that wins the prize of best place to sell. It takes, on average, just 19 days for a home to sell in the flower city.
Given it takes more than three times as long (68 days) to sell a home in Brock, if you’re picking a city that starts with B to sell a home, definitely go with Brampton.
It’s always interesting to see the “best” in different categories. As always, the more specific and focused we define what “best” means, the more useful the answer.
