There Are Home Buyers, and there are Bungalow Lifestyle Buyers...

There are home buyers and there are bungalow buyers: After "location" - all else being equal - the # 1 concern of “home buyers” is “How many square feet for the money?” Living space is more important than style of house.

Bungalow buyers, on the other hand, are concerned primarily with style. First, it's Bungalow Lifestyle: Live it! ...in Toronto and the GTA | Greater Toronto Area; other factors are secondary. Maybe they want/need everything on one floor. Or they want the ease of maintenance bungalows offer.

Bungalows are more expensive to build per square foot because you’re building a foundation and a roof regardless of house style – but only putting one level of floorspace in between in the case of a bungalow. Bungalows are usually built on a wider lots, too, further increasing overall costs. Bungalow buyers will pay a premium in return for the lifestyle.

While the mainstream house style of recent decades has been the 2-storey with a few split-levels and bungalows thrown into the mix, demand for bungalows is already growing as boomers begin to downsize, and people in general seem to be gravitating to more modest, energy-efficient houses.

Of course, everyone's entitled to their opinions..as evidenced by this National Post column. NatPost writer Gary Marr figures bungalows are a thing of the past since they're an inefficient use of space. Well, maybe so in the denser parts of the city then again, maybe not:

Many people with pets, grandchildren, passions for gardening, etc., aren't prepared to trade in their yards for a condo balcony - not yet, anyway - so, as more knees begin to give out, more people - particularly "Boomers" - will turn to Bungalows!

Browse GTA Bungalows by City / Region:

Browse "Beyond the GTA" Bungalows by City / Region: