Mississauga Neighbourhood Ranked One of the Last Affordable Areas in the GTA

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Published October 31, 2017 at 2:07 am

affordablehurontario

If you want to buy a home but you’re not a millionaire, there are only so many affordable neighbourhoods left in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and even then, becoming a homeowner is difficult if not near impossible–especially with higher interest rates and more vigorous mortgage stress tests.

However, one neighbourhood in Mississauga was deemed one of the last affordable in the GTA in a recent Toronto Life article.

As everyone know, Mississauga is not the most affordable city to buy a home in general. According to a recent Royal LePage report, the aggregate price of a home (combining all home types, including two-story homes, bungalows and condos) sits at $758,750. A two-story home typically costs buyers $873,194 (which is down from the $1 million+ highs we were seeing this past winter).  

But at a time when the housing market is still hot and it’s hard to find a reasonably priced home anywhere, one pocket of land in Mississauga still hits the mark as a hot GTA neighbourhood.

“There’s hope for non-millionaires who just want a half-decent house in a nice area with good schools,” says Steve Kupferman of Toronto Life.

Can you guess where?

According to Toronto Life, the Hurontario neighbourhood (namely Heritage Hills) is one of the last affordable neighbourhoods – of 20 – to buy a home, coming in at number 17.

Boasting an average sale price of $651,671, Toronto Life says “it’s easy for middle-class families to score an affordable home just steps away from the urban core.”

The magazine calls out the surrealness of seeing a massive cluster of distinctly urban high-rises from the window of your suburban low-rise. That said, they were right to single out the neighbourhood built around a large ­public park, as it’s pretty ideal for families–especially since it boasts paths to the two schools in the area: St. Matthew Elementary and Huntington Ridge Public School.

The house Toronto Life zeroed in on? A detached three-bedroom house on Bourget Drive that was listed for $789,888 and sold for $775,000.

Can you believe that, back in February, a cozy home sold for more than $200,000 over asking? How times have changed!

But what counts as a hot neighbourhood in the GTA, you ask? 

According to Toronto Life’s list of the last affordable neighbourhoods in the GTA, it’s “a good-sized house in a safe neighbourhood, with decent schools and leafy green space and a commute that isn’t soul-­crushing.”

Without breaking the bank on a million-dollar home, of course, because not all of us are millionaires (yet?!).

This list was curated based on real estate data across the GTA, as well as information from brokers and residents. Researchers also examined access to parks, schools, shopping areas, and transportation into downtown Toronto to determine the best places to live for under a million bucks.

“They’re the last best hope for the desperate house hunter—and the neighbourhoods everyone will be jockeying to buy into 10 years from now,” says Kupferman.

A home is, of course, a huge investment, and you don’t want to be overwhelmed with debt just for a place to call your own. Though that might still be the case if you’re trying to buy a home in the GTA anytime soon, regardless of the neighbourhood.

But, some neighbourhoods are more affordable than others, so you might want to snatch up a home in the Hurontario area while you still have a chance.

“Only virtual millionaires, or ­non-millionaires with millionaire parents, or non-millionaires willing to commit to a lifetime of crippling debt, could afford to break into the housing market,” Kupferman says in the article. “Everyone else had to settle for cramped condos and crumbling fixer-uppers.”

As for other hot GTA neighbourhoods, The Junction Triangle in Toronto topped Toronto Life’s list, with Mimico and West Rouge close behind. Northwest Brampton, Central West Ajax, and Eglinton East sit at the tail end.

You can check out the other neighbourhoods on the list here.

Map courtesy of Toronto Life

Cover photo courtesy of Google Maps

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