One of the latest Real Estate trends in the Toronto and GTA areas, are a direct result of high gas prices. The trend is people are starting to limit how far they live from where they work. In the previous years, some people have decided to work in the GTA and live as far away as Barrie, Coburg, Bowmanville, Milton, Guelph and locations typically 45 minutes to 2 hours away from where they work. They decided to do this to raise their family in a smaller town, have a bigger house with more land, have newer schools for their children and various other reasons. Now with higher gas prices, people who work in, say, Toronto but live in Aurora, have been calling to move closer to their workplace. This does make a lot of sense! Consider they now will have 2 hours more per day with their children, have less stress due to the drive, more money in their pockets due to less being spent on gas. Some of the people I have helped move out to Durham and work in Toronto have also called me for the same reasons. Even some people who I've helped move to North York, have been calling looking to move Downtown Toronto, giving up some of their land, for a lifestyle that devotes less time to driving.
If the price of gas has you constantly broke, consider moving closer to your workplace, your family may even thank you for it!
Cheers,
Brian Matthews
Sales Representative
Re/Max West Realty Inc., Brokerage