Downtown Condos

by Darrin DeRoches June 12 - 18, 2014

This past week the condos at the old Royal Connaught went up for sale and a few other projects also made some announcements. The Tivoli released a picture of their renderings of the upcoming project and the tower seems pretty big. The Artizen condos beside the Lister Block also put up a sign to announce their project. Both of these projects are still far away from selling and are announcing their project because the Royal Connaught was on sale.     My client is very interested in buying condos in Hamilton since we’re named number one city to invest in. For years, people have bought condos as an investment in Toronto and their condo market is so huge that some fear that the capability to make money in prospecting condos has come and gone. This has then brought attention to the Hamilton market, but after this weekend I wonder if we get it. The idea of buying a condo below market rate and then reselling it in 18 months to two years when the project is completed only works if the original price is low enough and the resale market raises enough to make a profit. If you were to buy a condo at $390 per sqft and then sell it two years later at $410 dollars per foot, then on a 1000 sqft foot condo you can make $20,000. This speculating buying process helps the condo builder’s ability to sell all the units and get the project built and at the same time allows for investors to make a better return on their money than sitting in the bank. The problem is that the builder has to be willing to sell at the right price and the market has to continue to rise. This is why it is called speculating.     The Connaught, Tivoli and Artizen condos are all big projects and will have to sell a lot of units. Collectively they will bring in over eleven hundred units to the downtown plus the other projects that are being built will bring a huge influx of people living in the downtown in the next two years. The first question people ask is “who is buying these units?” and the answer is simple – everybody. I spoke with young and older people who have the desire to buy condos and live downtown. The downtown area is changing in the right direction and the Royal Connaught will be the turning point.     Sales are the answer to everyone’s questions and sales are happening. Condos have been in the downtown for many years and different projects have had different levels of success. Over the next six months to a year, you will see the success of these projects selling. The next 18 months to two years you will then see the influx of people moving into these condos and downtown will have the biggest growth it has seen since the Royal Connaught was first built. V     Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at sold@uniquerealty.ca.