Toronto’s most affordable top school zones

Every parent wants to give their child the best and part of that desire is giving our children access to a good school. But rising property values in the Greater Toronto Area make the search for an affordable property in a good school district daunting, at best.

However, new research from the Toronto real estate brokerage, TheRedPin, shows that in Toronto buyers are willing to pay an average of 36.66% more—or $317,000—for a detached home in a top school district, compared to a detached home in a less-than-ideal school district. (For GTA parents, that premium translates to an additional $268,000 for a detached home in a good school district.)

But there are options. The first, is to opt for condo or townhouse living. On average, condos in the best school zones don’t sell for more than condos in less-than-ideal school zones—meaning there is no premium for condo units in an A+ school zone.

Or you can opt for an area that has not yet appreciated, despite excellent school rankings. According to TheRedPin statistics, families can save as much as $114,530 when purchasing homes in the following urban Toronto school districts:

–> Kennedy Public School, near Steeles Avenue East and Kennedy Road in Scarborough, received a perfect ranking (10/10) from the Fraser Institute. Detached homes in this area sold for as much as 10.4% ($98,490) less than the city average, and semi-detached homes in this school district sold for prices 14% ($93,306) below the Toronto average in 2014.

 –> For parents of high-school students, deals were found on detached homes near William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate, which was one of Ontario’s top-ranked high schools with a score of 8.8. In this district, homes sold for as low as 5% ($50,787) below the city average.

–> Arbor Glen Public School also received a perfect 10 rating, and the surrounding area saw below average prices on semi-detached and townhomes. Semis could be found for up to 17% ($114,530) below average, while buyers of townhomes saved as much as 16.6% ($82,274).

–> In the catchment area for Cherokee Public School, near Don Mills and Finch , detached homes sold for up to 12% ($112,089) below the Toronto average, and semi-detached homes sold for roughly $16,557 below the Toronto average.

For more ideas on the best neighbourhoods to buy in Toronto, check out our 2015 Best Deals in Real Estate: Top 25 Toronto Neighbourhoods to Buy In.

“Many parents come to us struggling with the top school vs. budget issue and have to stretch their budgets to the limit to make it work,” said Rokham Fard, co-founder of TheRedPin. “We decided to crunch the numbers and look for opportunities where they could have both. The good news is that we found there were a number of strong school areas where homes were priced below the average for the rest of the city.”

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