Development sites sold amid record scarcity levels in Ontario

Parcels in Pickering and Richmond Hill were sold by Fortress Real Developments last month

Development sites sold amid record scarcity levels in Ontario

Despite unprecedented scarcity in Ontario, Fortress Real Developments revealed that it has successfully closed the sale of two land purchases in Pickering and Richmond Hill last month.

“The Brock Village project in north Pickering was recently reimagined as a 59 unit townhouse project, where a commercial and residential mixed-use development was previous proposed,” the developer stated in its announcement.

Meanwhile, “the Towns on Hall project in downtown Richmond Hill received OMB approval in early 2017 for 22 luxury 3-storey freehold townhouses and includes an existing heritage home that will be relocated and restored.”

Fortress CEO Jawad Rathore said that the transactions did not represent an impediment to the developer’s more than 70 active projects, “especially given the generous offers received for the Towns on Hall and Brock Village projects.”

“We were happy to extract the value created through the approval and assembly or these sites, and offer thanks to our partners and consultants for the realization of our planning objectives,” Rathore added.

According to data from the Altus Group, the supply of ground-oriented new housing supply in Toronto has declined to the lowest point since the turn of the century, declining by 68 per cent year-over-year (down to 932 units). As of March, new low-rise house prices in the city broke the $1.1 million level, representing a 32 per cent annual increase.


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