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Welcome To South Annex

South Annex is the pocket south of Bloor, roughly bounded by Bathurst, Spadina and College, with Harbord Village as its heart. It sits between the Annex to the north and Little Italy to the south, and it has spent the last century being shaped by one neighbour in particular: the University of Toronto, two minutes east. Most of the housing stock went up between 1870 and 1910, and you can read the whole social history of the area in those facades… grand on Palmerston, more modest a block over, plenty of former rooming houses quietly converted back to single-family homes.

What you get here is a walkable, leafy, slightly academic part of the old city. Students and faculty rent the porches; young professionals and families buy the ones that come up and pour money into them. The result is a neighbourhood that feels lived-in rather than polished, with some of the best small restaurants in Toronto a short walk in any direction

South Annex FAQs

As a rough guide: condos and lofts (mostly along Bloor, College and the new Mirvish Village mix) tend to run from the high $600,000s into the $900,000s depending on size and building. Semi-detached and rowhouses, the bread and butter of the area, generally sit in the $1.3M to $2M range. Fully detached Victorians, especially the larger ones on and around Palmerston, can run from the $2M range well past $4M when they have been properly restored. These are ballpark numbers and the market moves… check the live stats block on this page for current sold data before you anchor on anything.

South of Bloor, north of College, between Bathurst and Spadina. Harbord Street runs through the middle of it and gives the area its village feel. If you hit Honest Ed’s old corner at Bloor and Bathurst (now Mirvish Village), you are at the northwest edge.

Yes, with a caveat. It is genuinely good for families who want to be downtown… generous lots, mature trees, good schools, and you can walk to almost everything. The caveat is that this is student-and-faculty country, so some streets are heavier on rentals and turnover than a quiet suburb would be. People who want downtown energy without high-rise living tend to love it.

Short. You are already essentially downtown. Spadina and Bathurst stations on the Line 2 subway sit at the top of the neighbourhood, the 510 Spadina and 511 Bathurst streetcars run the edges, and the 506 College streetcar runs the bottom. Most people walk or bike to the core in 20 to 30 minutes.

Very walkable, and very bikeable… Harbord has one of the better-used bike lanes in the city. Parking is the trade-off. Most houses have no private garage, on-street permit parking is competitive, and if being attached to your car is non-negotiable, this is not your easiest neighbourhood.

Around the Neighbourhood

Cultural landmarks: Mirvish Village at Bloor and Bathurst, the long-awaited redevelopment of the old Honest Ed’s site, reaching substantial completion in 2026 with a food hall, restored Markham Street heritage shops and a grocery. The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema sits just up at 506 Bloor for documentaries and repertory programming.

Hot local spots: Harbord Street is the engine room… Bar Eugenie, Rasa and Dreyfus are all within a short stretch, and Maven leans into the street’s Eastern-European Jewish history. Snakes & Lattes on College keeps the board-game crowd happy, and the Madison Avenue Pub remains the student institution it has been since 1983.

Parks & green space: Bickford Park for the off-leash hill and ball diamonds, the small Sibelius Square, and Christie Pits a short walk west for the pool, the rink and the ballpark.

 

Your Typical Neighbour

Your typical neighbour is some combination of academic and downtown professional. The University of Toronto anchors the demographic… students, faculty and grad researchers renting the porches, alongside families and young professionals who bought in and renovated. The area falls within the City of Toronto’s “University” neighbourhood profile which skews younger than the city as a whole and is majority renter, a direct reflection of the campus next door.

Source: City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles (2021 Census), “University” neighbourhood

 

What We Love

The food. For a small footprint, Harbord Village punches absurdly above its weight… you can eat extremely well within a single block. We also love the streetscape, Palmerston Boulevard in particular, with its stone-and-iron gateposts and cast-iron lamps, which is one of the genuinely beautiful streets in Toronto. And being able to walk to campus, to Little Italy, to Kensington Market and to two subway stations without ever needing a car is a rare thing in this city.

What We Don’t Love

Parking, honestly. It is tight, competitive, and a real consideration if you own a car. The rental-heavy mix means more turnover and the usual student-housing wear on some streets. And after years of construction dust and detours, the Mirvish Village build is finally wrapping in 2026… welcome, but the area has paid for it in noise and disruption along the way. Sticker shock on the detached Victorians is also real… beautiful houses, eye-watering prices.

Real Estate

Most of the stock was built between 1870 and 1910, and the long-running re-conversion from multi-unit rooming houses back to single-family homes continues wherever a house is big enough to justify it. Palmerston Boulevard is the holdout of that trend, a street of enormous homes at a scale most families would find hard to occupy and maintain, and one of the finest streetscapes in the city. More moderately sized homes on the surrounding streets have generally been updated, and many have been fully reborn in the move back to single-family use. There are spectacular properties here when they come to market, and sticker shock on list price is not unusual. For current pricing, see the live stats block above and browse active listings. First-time buyers, start here.

Transit

This is one of the best-connected pockets downtown. Bathurst and Spadina stations on the Line 2 subway sit at the north edge along Bloor, the 510 Spadina and 511 Bathurst streetcars run the sides, the 506 College streetcar runs the bottom, and Harbord has a bus route plus a well-used bike lane. Drivers can use Bathurst or Spadina to reach the Gardiner, though off-peak is your friend… at rush hour, walking or transit will usually beat the car.

Property Statistics in South Annex

Detached Houses - Statistics

Q1 2026

N/A

Average Price

5

New Listings

2

Properties Sold

N/A

Average Days on Market

N/A

% of Asking Price

semi-detached - Statistics

Q1 2026

N/A

Average Price

10

New Listings

1

Properties Sold

N/A

Average Days on Market

N/A

% of Asking Price

townhome - Statistics

Q1 2026

$2,040,000

Average Price

8

New Listings

4

Properties Sold

7

Average Days on Market

100%

% of Asking Price

Condos - Statistics

Q1 2026

$1,030,000

Average Price

20

New Listings

3

Properties Sold

54

Average Days on Market

97%

% of Asking Price

All Properties - Statistics

Q1 2026

$1,731,455

Average Price

43

New Listings

11

Properties Sold

32

Average Days on Market

102%

% of Asking Price

Source: TRREB Statistics

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