A surge in immigration and international student demand helped turn sub-500-square-foot condos into a hot commodity for investors who could pay down the mortgage with rental income and sell the property, often for a tidy profit, down the line.
But while demand for those properties has evaporated, Tran said plenty of the condos hitting the market priced under $400,000 are of a better standard, particularly those in older buildings.
“You can get a one-bedroom, 500-square-foot condo with a parking spot for the high three [hundreds] right now, and the quality is decent,” he said.
“It’s not like some of the newer condo layouts where you can barely fit a dining table and couch into the main area. So it really depends on the building and the area.”
The outlook for those tinier units remains bleak: rents have been on a steady descent, immigration numbers are down and few buyers view them as a purchase that makes sense even at big discounts.