List price: $1.595 million
Selling price: $1.808 million
Days on the market: 7

This gorgeous Victorian home landed on the market in late summer, and even when the market was in a lull, it sold right away and well over the asking price. The charming house is on a side street and features a lovely south garden and spacious rooms. It hasn’t been on the market since 1957. Post City spoke to realtor David Freeman who sold the property.

Selling points
This property was a well-preserved home from when it was built, with so many intact details. It was museum-quality condition. One of the draws was for those interested in Victorian-era qualities and architecture. The other draw was its size. It’s a three-storey home with five bedrooms, and the second kitchen could be converted to a sixth bedroom. It lends itself to a lot of different uses. You could keep it this way with two kitchens, or convert to something more single family, especially when spending this kind of money.

Neighbourhood
It’s a very rare street, a very unique street. Anyone who ever worked at or went to U of T, they all know Willcocks. This one block, it feels like the 1920s, and all of these homes are protected by heritage. If you value the pace and qualities of yesteryear, you are immediately drawn to a property and a street like this. It’s a rare quality, and the owner had lived in the property for approximately 60 years. 

What went down?
It was mid-August, which is traditionally the second slowest month of the year, but we had tremendous activity on the property. The open houses were very well-attended, I would say with 30 parties per day, and I don’t know the exact number, but eight to 10 offers.

Market impact?
What it shows is that people are moving to the city, for many reasons: work, financial, getting rid of two cars, schools.… There is more interest in living downtown than other locations, generally speaking, but values have come down.