With summer here, the Toronto condo resale market is slowly shifting towards balance after several years of favouring sellers. There will be a 22 per cent increase in inventory, over last summer. Buyers seem to have more selection, be able to take more time to make decisions, and have a little more room for negotiation. This time last year, buyers had to make quick decisions and often had to pay over asking price.
This seems to be frustrating for sellers, that their units are staying on the market a little longer, and not commanding the bidding wars that were seen so frequently in 2007.
In my opinion this is a better situation for both sides, as the seller will have more time to find their next home, once theirs sells, and the buyer doesn't feel pressured or ripped off. This can be a very dissatisfying experience for a first time buyer, when it should be an enjoyable one.
For more Toronto condo news, visit www.TheCondoLife.com.
In a first of its kind, LED lighting has been employed to illuminate the interior corridors throughout Palace Pier, on Toronto's waterfront. It's the first residential building in Canada (and likely North America) to convert to LED technology for interior lighting, as part of a $2.4 million renovation to the interior corridors.
The (Palace Pier) Board and Residents were committed to finding a ‘green' solution for the new lighting and LED proved to be the answer. The lighting project will employ close to 1300 LED-based MR16 lamps in the hallways on all 44 residential floors. Faced with using the traditional halogen MR16, which draws 35 watts of electricity, the new LED product, supplied by Canadian company CRS Electronics, will require only 4 watts.
The Palace Pier has been noted to have the first panoramic view of Toronto's waterfront, but now with a correlated colour temperature (CCT) of 3000 and a colour rendering index (CRI) of 92+, the view inside has also achieved a first and reached the pinnacle of quality. Both of these lighting metrics are very important to designers, as they determine the colour and quality of light and how it reflects on other surfaces to truly represent the colour of the finishings and treatments.
The CRS LED MR16 has a lumen maintenance rating of 70% at 40,000 hours, equivalent to 5 years continuous use. With a lumen output comparable to the 35W halogen that it is replacing, the CRS LED MR16 uses 87% less energy.
The difference between halogen and LED will save the Palace Pier residents approximately $40,000 per year. Electricity demand is approximately 40 kW less, and overall annual consumption will be approximately 349,226 kWh less per year. This translates into approximately a 110 tonne reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The LED MR16 will last 40,000 hours as compared with 2000 hours for a halogen MR16. Relamping maintenance costs such as lamp purchase and labour will be drastically reduced. When considering both the reduced energy as well as maintenance costs, payback of the initial purchase will be within 9 months.
For more Toronto condo news, visit http://www.thecondolife.com/
Toronto is rapidly becoming a hub of development with new Condos coming on to the Market every quarter. The first quarter of 2008 saw 3,433 new units sold, remarkable in the present economic times and even more so when you consider other Condo Markets in Chicago and San Diego are not selling nearly as well.
Downtown these luxury Condo-dwellers enjoy the Roger Centre, the Air Canada Centre and hundreds of restaurants, bars and shopping, just minutes away. One can definitely leave the car in the garage.
The new hip neighbourhoods of King St West and Queen St West are both undergoing a rebirth of downtown Toronto. Along both these streets are Korean, French, Italian, and Chinese restaurants to name a few. These neighbourhoods also have unique and quaint shopping in comparison to the bigger shopping areas like The Eaton Centre.
Just steps further you can arrive at the Toronto Waterfront and in my estimation the jewel of that area, Queens Quay Terminal, with all its stores and restaurants as well. From there its just a short walk to the Toronto Ferry Boats that will take you to the Toronto islands.
One can become a Tourist in our own city and enjoy all that Toronto has to offer..
Check out many of the best new luxury downtown Toronto Condos and Lofts listed on www.TheCondoLife.com.
TORONTO'S CONDO SPECIALIST
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