Toronto's ever-increasing home prices continue to add fuel to the fire for many surrounding housing markets in the Greater Toronto Area. Located just 35 minutes from Union Station by GO train, Ajax offers a high quality of life with reduced housing costs. Local recreation offerings include 37 soccer fields, 18 baseball diamonds, 6 indoor ice rinks, and 7 kilometres of beautiful lakefront parks tied together by the Waterfront Trail.

Central Park Ajax, image courtesy of LeMine Investment Group

Ajax will soon be getting a major addition of vitality in the form of LeMine Investment Group's Central Park Ajax, a new mixed-use development attractive to both end user homebuyers and investors. Several factors are making it an attractive investment, with rapidly appreciating home prices and proximity to the city among the most obvious. With zoning in place and the site plan for the development approved, the lack of remaining hurdles in the planning and approvals process hints at a faster turnaround for the final product to be built.

Figures from Statistics Canada show that Ajax’s 10-year population growth of 48.6% is well over three times the provincial rate of 13.2%, and over four times the national growth rate of 12%. In the same ten-year timeframe, Ajax’s population between the ages of 20 and 29 has grown 71%. Overall, Ajax's population is young and active, with a local average age of 36.

Ajax population growth, image courtesy of LeMine Investment Group

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), Ajax witnessed the highest real estate appreciation rates in the GTA between 2012 and 2015, at 33%, compared with Toronto’s rate of 22.53%. TREB also cites Ajax properties’ rental income ROI as 36% higher than Toronto, with average purchase pay-off times of 18.3 years versus Toronto’s 24.8 years.

Rental income ROI, appreciation rate, and selling speed comparison, image courtesy of LeMine Investment Group

Affordability is clearly a major draw for this market as home prices in the central GTA continue to rise. It currently takes an average of 8.1 years for a Toronto homeowner to pay off their property, in contrast with just the 4.6 years average for Ajax. This can be partially attributed to Ajax’s average household income of $82,613, 20% higher than the Toronto average of $69,321. Speed of sales is another factor driving investors east on the 401, with TREB analysis showing that Ajax properties are on the market for an average of just 13 days, 10 less than the 23 day average Toronto properties stay on the market.

Time to pay off a property in Ajax vs Toronto, image courtesy of LeMine Investment Group

Though rents for one-bedroom units in Ajax between 2012 and 2015 are still well below the average Toronto rate, the average rental income increase of 34% greatly exceeds Toronto’s 1% increase during the same period.

Average rental income increase of Ajax versus other markets, image courtesy of LeMine Investment Group

It's a win-win here: LeMine's Central Park Ajax will benefit from Ajax's qualities, while contributing to Ajax's ongoing improvement itself. More information and renderings can be found in the project's dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.