407 Walmer Rd: Fourteen Suites, Two Per Floor, Above the Ravine

407 Walmer Road is about as close as a condo gets to owning a house without the house. There are 14 suites, two to a floor, in a seven-storey brick building on a residential street above the Nordheimer Ravine. You will rarely see one for sale, and you will pay for the privacy when you do. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two suites to a floor

The defining fact about this building is its size. With 14 suites across seven storeys, there are only two suites on each floor, so you share a landing with one neighbour. Most suites have more than one exposure, and the building feels more like a large house divided into flats than an apartment building.

It is a brick building from 1981, and it was plainly designed for people leaving houses nearby. Most buyers here are still in that situation: they want to stay in the neighbourhood and give up the stairs and the snow.

The trade-off of a small building is that every cost is shared by 14 owners. A roof, an elevator modernisation or a garage repair is a large sum divided by very few people, which makes the reserve fund more important here than in a big tower.

Layouts and the size question

The building profile records suite sizes of about 1,080 to 1,406 square feet. A recent listing, however, described a suite of roughly 2,000 to 2,250 square feet, so I suspect the published range is incomplete. In a building this small, a few combined or larger suites can easily fall outside the data.

Recent listing descriptions give a sense of what the suites offer: foyers, combined living and dining rooms, balconies off the living room and the primary bedroom, and eat-in kitchens. At least one listing mentioned a fireplace. Treat those as features of individual suites, not guarantees for the whole building.

Get the floor plan and measured size for any suite you look at. With so few comparables, an accurate size is the only way to judge value.

Ravine views and a residential street

Walmer Road here is a quiet, tree-lined residential street, and listings describe south-facing suites looking over the Nordheimer Ravine to the downtown skyline. Whether a given suite has that view depends on its floor and side, so look before you assume.

Listings place the building in Forest Hill, while the neighbourhood boundaries put it in the Casa Loma area. In practice you are close to both: Forest Hill Village shops, Winston Churchill Park and the stores and restaurants around St. Clair and Spadina are all within walking range, according to recent listing descriptions.

The fee, and what is not in it

The fee covers air conditioning, common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat is not listed as included, and a recent listing described baseboard heating with central air. That suggests heating is on your own hydro bill, so ask the seller for a year of utility bills before you compare costs.

Fees in a 14-suite building are high per square foot almost by definition, because there are so few owners to spread fixed costs across. The building profile lists an exercise room, a sauna, an elevator, an underground garage and visitor parking, and listings mention lockers and permission to use barbecues on balconies. That is a modest list for the fee, and you are paying mainly for the scale and privacy.

What small-building life is really like

In a building of 14 suites, the owners are the community. Board seats go to people you will meet in the lobby, decisions are made by a handful of households, and one owner’s renovation affects everyone for weeks. Most buyers here value that closeness, but it is worth knowing before you buy.

There is no concierge in the amenity list, so parcels, deliveries and contractor access are handled by the owners and the property manager. For many downsizers that is fine. For someone who travels a lot and wants packages held and the suite checked on, a larger staffed building may suit better.

Resale works differently too. Suites come up rarely, and with so few owners there may be long stretches with nothing for sale at all. If you are watching this building, have financing arranged and be ready to move when something appears.

Finally, think about the long view. The people who buy here tend to stay for many years, so the building changes slowly. That stability is part of what you are paying for, and it is one of the reasons the average price per square foot holds up despite the building’s age.

Pricing in a building that barely trades

The building profile shows an average of about $1,328 per square foot. That is a high figure for a 1981 building, and it reflects the location, the two-suites-per-floor format and how seldom anything comes up. It is also based on very few sales, so treat it as a rough guide.

With only one suite for sale at the time of writing, I won’t quote an asking range. The better comparison is often a nearby house or semi rather than another condo, since that is what most buyers here are leaving. My building sold report shows what has actually closed.

When you set the fee against a house, count what it replaces: exterior maintenance, snow clearing, a roof fund of your own and building insurance. Then add the hydro bill, since heating appears to be on your meter here. That total is the fair monthly comparison.

Building specifications

Amenities at 407 Walmer Road

There is no concierge in the amenity list, and none of the social rooms you find in larger buildings. What you get is an elevator, a small gym and sauna, underground parking and a building quiet enough that you know both of your floor-mates.

Jatin’s honest take on 407 Walmer Road

407 Walmer Road — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.