170 Wickson Trail Townhouses: A 32-Home 1978 Complex in Malvern

170 Wickson Trail is a small 1978 townhouse complex in Malvern, the planned Scarborough community that was largely built out in the 1970s, near Neilson Road and Sewells Road. Thirty-two homes, a professional manager, visitor parking and permission to barbecue: it is a simple place, and simple is the point. The real work for a buyer is in the documents, not the amenities. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Small, and registered alongside its neighbour

With 32 homes, this is one of the smaller condominium corporations in Malvern. Condos.ca shows it registered as YCC-437 on 1 December 1978, just ten days after 50 Silverbell Grove Townhouses registered as YCC-436, a 28-home complex near the same corner.

Consecutive corporation numbers registered days apart often point to related projects, but I could not confirm a common builder, and condos.ca names none for either. Treat them as separate corporations with separate budgets, managers and reserve funds. Condos.ca lists Maple Ridge Community Management here and a different firm at 50 Silverbell Grove.

Wickson Trail also has another condominium townhouse complex at 151 to 161 Wickson Trail. If you are shopping the street, check the corporation number on every listing so you are reading the right set of documents.

Small complexes also have few listings, so a well-kept home can move quickly when one appears. Have your financing ready and build enough time into your conditional period for your lawyer to review the status certificate properly.

What the amenity list tells you

Condos.ca lists a parking garage, visitor parking and barbecues permitted. There is no pool, gym or party room to maintain, so the fee stays focused on the buildings, the grounds and the reserve fund.

Barbecue permission sounds minor, but in a townhouse it is part of how you use the backyard or patio in summer. Read the rules for any limits on fuel type or location before you assume your current grill comes with you.

Find out what the parking garage listing means in practice. If it is a shared structure, it is a major reserve fund item with its own repair cycle. If each home has its own built-in garage, the declaration will say who looks after the door, the slab and the driveway.

The age question

At 48 years, the complex has been through at least one round of roof, window and paving replacement. Ask when each was last done, what the reserve fund study expects next, and whether the fund is on track to pay for it.

In a 32-home corporation, every big project is split fewer ways than it would be in a large complex. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to read the reserve fund study closely and to go through the last two or three years of board minutes for any discussion of major work.

Inside the home, book an inspection. Furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, electrical panels and plumbing are usually the owner’s responsibility in a townhouse condominium, and in a 1978 home they may or may not have been updated. Ask whether the water heater is owned or rented, because a rental contract passes to the buyer.

Ask the manager, too, about the shared services underground, such as water and sewer lines between the homes. In some complexes the corporation owns them and in others the City does, and that shapes what the reserve fund has to plan for.

Life in Malvern East

Malvern is a family neighbourhood of townhouses, semis and detached homes, with plenty of parkland and the Malvern Community Recreation Centre. It is a car-friendly place rather than a walk-to-everything one. The data panel on this page shows the nearest transit, schools, parks and shops.

The transit picture is changing on both sides of the neighbourhood. The City’s planned Scarborough East Rapid Transit line would run 18.6 kilometres from Kennedy Station to Malvern Town Centre, with 27 stops, passing the University of Toronto Scarborough campus on the way. It is still in planning, with no construction or opening date.

The Line 2 East Extension is already under construction, with its new terminus at Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road. Tunnel boring started from that site in January 2023. The City has not published an opening date, but when it opens, this part of Scarborough gets a direct subway link to the rest of the city.

Neither project changes how you get around on day one, so buy for the commute you have now. But a complex on the edge of two new rapid transit lines is in a better long-term position than it was a decade ago.

What 170 Wickson Trail costs

There were no homes listed for sale or lease when I checked, and condos.ca does not publish a price per square foot here, so I have no asking range to quote.

Small complexes trade rarely. With 32 homes, a year may bring only a couple of sales, so lean on the aggregate data in the panel and on nearby complexes of similar age. I can prepare a building sold report covering this complex and its neighbours.

The natural comparisons are 50 Silverbell Grove Townhouses, registered the same autumn, and 151 to 161 Wickson Trail. Freehold townhouses in Malvern are also worth a look, because they remove the monthly fee but put every roof, window and driveway on you.

Within the complex, condition sets the price. Updated kitchens and bathrooms, newer mechanical systems and a finished basement are what buyers pay for, so compare like with like.

Building specifications

Amenities at 170 Wickson Trail Townhouses

This is a practical townhouse package rather than a lifestyle one: parking, visitor spaces for guests, and the freedom to barbecue. With no shared facilities to run, more of each fee dollar should be going to the reserve fund, which is exactly what you want in a complex this age.

Jatin’s honest take on 170 Wickson Trail Townhouses

170 Wickson Trail Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Scarborough Bluffs, West Hill, Guildwood, Woburn, Malvern and Rouge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.