Home prices in Scarborough are among the highest in the province, according to a recent report by Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
The Home Listing Report, which tracked prices from March to September, found the average cost of a four-room, two-bathroom home in Scarborough is $484,000. Costs are higher only in the rest of Toronto, Newmarket and Oakville, with average prices of $495,398, $513,225 and $741,638 respectively.
The report is good news for the Scarborough homeowners, said Ward 44 councillor Ron Moeser.
“We’re catching up to Toronto,” he said. “This is a wonderful community to live in. I think people are starting to realize that and I think that prices are now starting to reflect that.”
However, some Scarborough real estate agents are skeptical of the report’s findings.
“I don’t think there is a sudden rise in home value,” said John Evanoff, owner of Evanoff Real Estate. “I really don’t know what information they’ve been using.”
Because housing prices can vary depending on which homes are sold when, price trends should be looked at in the longer term, he said.
Calculating price averages can also be misleading. For example, houses south of Kingston Road along the Scarborough Bluffs can sell for more than $1 million, but homes in Malvern may be less desirable and sell for less, Evanoff said.
Although these higher values may be appreciated by some, the report also highlights issues of affordability. Greater housing costs hurt low-income residents, many of whom live in Scarborough’s public housing projects, and fixing these problems requires teamwork, Moeser said.
“Part of it is how much money we spend on these issues,” he said. “It’s got to be done within the budget.
“What we need is the federal and provincial governments to step up as well to make sure that important [housing] issues are addressed.”
According to the Coldwell Banker report, the least expensive four-room, two-bathroom homes are found in Windsor, averaging $158,242.