sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
I'm going to have to agree with Suiseiseki on this one.
Yes,... in North York City Centre,... while an old bungalow in a decent size lot will cost about $1 million,... and a McMansion will cost closer to $2 million. And condos go for about $300-500 per square foot.
And that's exactly what the census report,.... including how many people in the area, type of residence, income level, age, people per household, etc,... and that's exactly the raw data the supermarket chain uses to decide where to place their supermarkets and what type of supermarket,... for which price points.
But what they do not focus on,... is disposable income.
You see,... there have been 50 new condo towers built in North York City Centre (along Yonge between Doris and Beecroft from Hwy 401 to Cummer-Drewry) in the last 15 years since amalgamation in 1997,... that averages to 1 new condo tower every 3-4 months,.... half the people in Toronto live in Condos,.. and in this area, with so many condos, we have more people living in Condos than houses. Seriously, consider your basic 30 storey condo have about 500 residents,.... an entire street like Poyntz with about 150 houses would have about 500 people,... and how many streets like Poyntz doe we have compared to how many condos!
Anyway,... very few condo buyers buy a new condo with all cash! Most condo buyers tend to be young. They usually need a mortgage,... and most people take about 15 years to pay off a mortgage,... so many of these condo units are not paid off yet. Thus many of the condo owners,... are in fact, "house poor": they`re relatively broke after purchasing the condo due to the mortgage payments and other related expenses,... even though their personal asset maybe increasing from owning a property,... their monthly disposable income (liquid asset) are usually fairly tight.
Then add in car payments,... fancy car payments,.. some of these young folks like spending money they don`t have to impress people they don`t know!
And then there are the condo renters who rent a condo from a condo investor,... these condo renters usually don`t have enough asset or income to qualify to buy their own condo,... thus they rent.
As for the area house owners,.. how many home-buyers buy a $1 million to $2 million house with all cash,.... there is usually a mortgage involved.
In addition, many of the older homes are still owned by older folks,... like seniors on fixed income pensions who are "house rich but cash poor",.... Cash Strapped!
If this area was full of people with high disposable income,... high end malls like BayviewVillage would be packed,... but it`s not!
Just because the area has properties higher than the GTA average doesn't mean the area is rich,... don't compare this area to Rosedale, ForestHill or Yorkville. Those rich areas don't have Dollarama stores,... areas that have Dollarama stores are poor area,.. err, I mean,... area with lower monthly disposible income (ie "Cash Strapped"). Case in point, the Dollarama in Sheppard Centre opened about 3 years ago,... and Dollarama is one of the busiest stores in SheppardCentre. A much larger Dollarama opened in EmpressWalk last year,.... and its now quite busy as well. These two Dollarama stores (SheppardCentre & EmpressWalk) are only 1km away from each other,... probably the shortest distance between two Dollarama stores anywhere!
Yeah,... we need a Walmart in SheppardCentre! Walmart is great for "Cash Strapped" people!
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