In the spring of 2022, you could almost smell the euphoria in the air around Toronto real estate. Sales centres were buzzing, pre-construction brochures gleamed with drone-shot skylines, and ordinary people were convinced that condos were bulletproof investments. The script was simple: put down a deposit, wait for the building to rise, then flip your piece of paper to the next eager buyer before a single tile was laid. No fuss, no risk, only profit—or so it was sold.
The idea even had a name that sounded tidy and professional: the assignment sale. You bought a unit that didn’t yet exist, transferred the contract at a higher price before closing, and pocketed the difference. Some made real money doing it. Others were told it was impossible to lose.
But as always, markets have a way of exposing the difference between garbage and quality.
Garbage is Garbage
Condos have had a bad reputation before—most infamously during the crash of the early ’90s. What’s striking is how little the pattern has changed. Garbage condos sink first. Garbage condos were never built to be lived in. They were churned out as financial products, crammed into towers with absurdly small floorplans.
I’ve walked through units where the “living room” sofa jams up against the stove or kitchen sink. Three-bedroom family suites crammed into 800 square feet or less! Bathroom doors that would allow entry around toilets only by contortionists. Elevators so overworked that end-of-day commutes meant twenty minutes of loitering in a lineup in the lobby. Who in their right mind would want to live like that?
I’m so passionate about pointing out bad floor plans that I created a blog series about it. Read some of my latest Condo Chronicles to see how I’d improve some of Toronto’s worst condo floor plans:
- Reworking the Residences of 488 University Avenue
- Social Condos at 100 Dalhousie Street
- Vu South Tower
Contrast this with the apartments built in the ’60s and ’70s. Many were purpose-built rentals, yet they had space, flow, and logic. Kitchens were usable. Bedrooms fit actual beds. Those buildings are still standing, still lived in, and still valued. Because they weren’t garbage.
It’s no secret that I’m partial to older condo buildings, but is it wrong to like older buildings? Or are they actually better?
How the Bubble Inflated
For two decades, Canadian condos morphed from a practical housing option into the ultimate financial asset. Developers realized they could sell entire towers before shovels hit the ground. Investors—from wealthy international buyers to middle-class Canadians looking to “get ahead”—lined up. Square footages shrank, but the spectacle grew.
I remember sales events that looked more like film premieres: red carpets, cocktail servers, even celebrities endorsing projects. It all added to the sheen of inevitability. Prices doubled, then tripled, while stock markets sputtered. In the aftermath of the 2008 crash, condos hardly flinched. Why worry about risk when history seemed to prove there wasn’t any?
Except, of course, there was.
The first cracks appeared when interest rates jumped in 2022. Almost overnight, carrying costs soared and sales plunged. By 2024, thousands of buyers were stuck. Some couldn’t get financing because their units were too small for banks to consider mortgage-worthy. Others found their pre-construction deposits tied up in lawsuits when they couldn’t close. Developers themselves started toppling into receivership, projects stalled mid-construction, and empty towers began haunting the skyline.
It wasn’t just individuals who lost—it was the system revealing its own flaws: speculative hype, poor design, and policymakers who turned a blind eye while debt and density ballooned.
It can sometimes be a challenge to separate fact from fiction. Read these posts next for an insider perspective:
- Is there a Fast Buck in Real Estate? Advice from an Architect Realtor
- What Real Estate Reality Shows Don’t Tell You
My Own Path
I’ve bought, sold, renovated, and invested in more than a dozen condos over the past decade. And unlike so many caught in this cycle, I never lost. Not because I was lucky, but because I never confused hype with value.
When it comes to Toronto condos, it’s important not to be unduly swayed by glitzy condorama.
I avoided shoebox towers. I looked for livable square footage, well-managed boards, owner-occupied communities, and locations with staying power. I refused to be dazzled by glossy brochures promising rooftop pools and celebrity design “collaborations.” (If you’ve ever stood in line for an elevator to the 60th floor at 6:00 p.m., you know what I mean about trophies on toothpicks.)
The key was simple: homes first, investments second.
The Fallout
By 2025, the reality was unavoidable. Condo values in Toronto had dropped by double digits. In Vancouver, too, the slide was steep. Investors who’d believed they were securing their families’ futures found themselves in court, or bleeding money each month as rents couldn’t keep up with carrying costs. Developers, desperate to balance their books, pursued legal action against buyers who walked.
Meanwhile, towers were left half-empty, with thousands of units built as speculative assets rather than homes. The irony is painful: we have a housing shortage, yet too much of what’s been built is unfit for the very people who need housing most.
And still, you hear the voices insisting it’s just a blip, that “smart investors” are buying again, that the market will recover. Maybe it will. It always does. But the lessons shouldn’t be ignored.
Whether you’re buying a home or selling a house in Toronto, it’s important to make informed decisions, avoid the buzzwords, and work with an experienced Realtor® with your best interests in mind.
Lessons That Never Change
- Garbage is garbage. No amount of marketing can save bad design.
- Quality is quality. Homes that are spacious, functional, and well-managed hold their value.
- Fast money is a mirage. A few people get lucky; most get burned.
- Experience matters. Those who’ve lived through past cycles know that patience beats speculation every time.
I admit, I was uneasy watching wave after wave of poorly designed towers rise in recent years. It wasn’t hard to predict that something would give. And now it has.
But a reset isn’t the end. Markets wobble, correct, and eventually find their footing. What remains are the lessons. Buyers, lenders, and developers all walk away a little wiser—if they choose to.
In the end, real estate is not a slot machine. Homes are not trading cards. Treat them as such, and eventually you’ll lose. But if you invest in what’s livable, manageable, and real, you’ll come through intact—even when the market doesn’t.
Looking for some authentic real estate advice free of buzzy slogans and superficial promises? As an architect and real estate agent, I’m always happy to chat.
Get in touch today by filling out the form on this page, calling me at 416-824-1242, or emailing me directly at robert@lifeofluxury.ca.
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