Toronto is obsessed with tall buildings. The city contains enough vertical sprawl to substitute for New York City on TV and film. In fact, Toronto has the 4^th most high-rises in the western hemisphere, trailing only Sao Paolo, New York City and Rio de Janeiro. According to Skyscraperpage, Canada’s biggest city has 1,907 high-rise buildings, though that number likely inflates closer to 2,600 when considering the Greater Toronto Area.

Condo construction is the biggest contributor to Toronto’s vertical growth, however, many industry experts fear the condo market is overheated and riddled with over-supply. Nonetheless, the GTA continues to post gains, most recently in Q1-2012 condo sales, which was the highest of any first quarter on record.

The recently released annual TD Canada Trust Condo Poll revealed how Torontonians truly feel towards the condo market. Frankly, it wasn’t much of a surprise as Torontonians were willing to pay the highest condo fees compared to the rest of Canada.

Below is a chart detailing the percentage of people willing to pay condo maintenance fees (at specified amounts) in Toronto and Canada.

Various forecasts speculate Toronto’s housing market is overvalued by as much as 10%. Still, this does not seem to faze the appetite of the hungry Toronto condo buyer. In fact, according to the TD poll, almost half say recent media forecasts made them more likely to buy a condo versus 17% that say it made them less likely.

Condo investors take a lot of heat for exacerbating the condo craze. According to Shaun Hildebrand, a senior analyst for the CMHC, a quarter of the Toronto condo market is investor owned. One in three Torontonians said they were most likely to own a condominium that is not their primary residence. Most Toronto condo buyers (44%) think they are good investments to buy and sell for profit or see them as a long-term source of rental income (39%).

One in four Toronto condo buyers were likely to consider buying a condo as a home for their adult children who would eventually own it. The national average likely to consider this option was 15%.

“Recent housing forecasts have predicted that an over-supply of condos will cause a drop in prices. How this affects your decision to purchase a condo comes down to your goals at that time,” says Farhaneh Haque, TD’s Director of Mortgage Advice.

The Toronto condo market is major point of debate among the housing industry. Regardless, growing a city vertically is much more efficient than growing it horizontally, as urban density requires less strain on the environment versus suburban sprawl. Whichever way the condo market moves, one thing is clear: Torontonians are crazy for condos.

We use the word “hot” to describe many things. The weather is hot, fashion can be hot, and of course, real estate can be hot. We have talked about how hot the market has been over the past few years, but one thing that we haven’t seen is a condominium named “hot.” Well, that’s all going to change now that Great Gulf is set to release their latest Mississauga development.

Introducing HOT Condos.  Located just West of Winston Churchill Boulevard at 3015 Eglinton Avenue, HOT will be an excellent addition to Erin Mills. As described in the plans submitted to the City of Mississauga, HOT Condos will be a series of three four-storey condominium buildings, which will feature a total of 169 suites.

So, the question you must be asking yourself at this point is: what’s with the name? Well, HOT doesn’t actually refer to the temperature of the building; it’s actually an acronym for “Home Ownership Today.” We do not have much information on the project at this point, but given the success that Daniels achieved with Destination Drive in the same area, it wouldn’t be surprising if HOT was received with open arms.

Great Gulf is a builder who has been making some interesting moves lately. They are continuing construction on Charlie Condos and One Sherway, while TUX Condos and others are in the planning stages. They have a long, rich history in both low-rise and high-rise developments, and are widely considered to be one of the best developers in Ontario.

Stay tuned to the Toronto Star’s NewInHomes.com, we plan to have as much information as possible on HOT Condos sooner rather than later.

Build Toronto has been one of the most recent additions to our real estate scene. Early last year, they were appointed as the City of Toronto’s real estate wing, managing and selling properties that have been deemed “surplus.” Some of their past projects include the sale of 154 Front St. East and their partnership with Tridel at 10 York.

With that in mind, we’d like to direct your attention to another plot of land that Build Toronto is marketing. Introducing 51 Power Street, the City’s latest piece of surplus land. Power runs through Adelaide Street East and Richmond Street East, which border the north and south edges of the lot.

What makes this news even more interesting is the recent purchase of 48 Power St. by Great Gulf, which is located right across the street from 51 Power.  Now, this is just us speculating, but imagine a condominium project that spans both sites. We could have a Pier 27 style of project, where a common bridge would stretch over the street, connecting the two buildings.

We don’t know about you, but that sounds like a cool project to us, and it would be a really strong addition to Corktown. Now, odds are 1 in 1,000000 that this actually happens, but hey, we can dream can’t we?

Either way, it looks like we could have a few new condominium projects coming to the Corktown area!

For the past month, we at the Toronto Star’s NewInHomes.com have been taking our readers on little trips to check out how some of the unique streets in the city are evolving. We have taken you up to Peter St. to check out the latest additions to the Entertainment District.  We then ventured to Adelaide St. West where a wide collection of condos are rising.  And last week, we took a walk down Charles St. to check out the transformation of a quiet neighbourhood into a major residential hub. This week, we are off to Yorkville to check out Davenport Road. Located just north of Bloor, Davenport is a winding street consisting of older retail buildings and a select number of contemporary condominiums.

Our first stop was at The Yorkville, a development by Lifetime Developments. When we were last at The Yorkville, the sales centre was bustling and sales were brisk. Well, it’s not a shock that on this visit, the sales centre is no more, and the site is being prepped for the big dig! The 31-storey tower received praise early in 2011 for its unique and innovative architecture. The Yorkville will feature one- and two-bedroom+den units, with sizes ranging from 544 to 948 square feet. Units are still available for anyone interested in living at The Yorkville, and prices are starting in the $900,000s.

Right next door to The Yorkville is The Florian, a development by The Diamante Development Corporation. The first thing that we noticed at The Florian is the exterior cladding. The tower is comprised of black precast tiles, with tinted glass and white limestone on the podium. The design is actually quite striking! Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, The Florian features suites ranging between 743 to 2,875 square feet, with prices ranging anywhere between $1,000,000 and $11,000,000.

A few hundred paces down the road brought us to 133 Hazelton, located at the corner of Davenport and Hazelton. Developed by Mizrahi Khalili Developments, 133 Hazelton is still in the preconstruction phase. The boutique nine-storey building will be home to just 38 suites, ranging in size from 899 to 2,374 square feet. Prices at 133 Hazelton are starting at $1,000,000.

The last development that we checked out during our trip down Davenport was 277 Davenport, a development by Burnac. What makes this development so interesting, is that it’s the definition of a small infill project. Rising six storeys, 277 Davenport will have just 10 exclusive suites, with high-end features and finishes. The suites’ sizes range from 1,819 to 3,767 square feet, and prices are found as low as $1,600,000.

Davenport Road is a prime example of how we as a city are naturally intensifying our areas. Most, if not all, of the projects that we went to check out incorporated older buildings into their designs, and many of the lots were simply being underutilized. The development of streets like Davenport is the best way to keep up with the strong demand that the city is currently facing.  We are looking forward to Toronto’s growth, and we can not wait to see what some of the developers come up with next!