Single family property investing has its own set of rules. For decades, single family home ownership has been in high demand in Ontario and specifically in the GTA. It can therefore be pricey to acquire an asset like a detached home or a condo and hard to get the numbers to work in your favour. For example, Toronto condos cost about $1000 per square foot (early 2021), with average rents at around $3 per sf and condo fees at around $.80 per sf. This brings your cap rate to 2.5% at best, lower when you also consider vacancy, repairs and management. Add in financing and your are going to have a hard time making the investment cash flow positive.
The situation is not much different with houses. While there are always opportunities for rehabs out there, achieving significant cash flows compared to property value can be challenging. Typically, value appreciation overtime becomes the main focus with single family investments. Advantages of this asset class are:
- Easy and inexpensive financing, compared to multi residential properties
- Broader supply of single family homes in the market, making it easier to find a suitable property
- Management is often easier that with multi residential properties, as tenants are more self sufficient


