TORONTO—Janis Isaman makes no apologies for raising her 6-year-old son in a two-bedroom condominium—and for eschewing the once-coveted trappings of a life in the suburbs.
“I definitely do not want a yard and I do not want anything to do with the suburban lifestyle,” says Isaman, 40, a business owner and single mother in Calgary.
The variety of urban life suits Isaman and her son, she says. They can walk to their favourite tea shops, restaurants, and the local library. And the time that would otherwise be taken up cutting grass and raking leaves can instead be spent exploring the city together.
“We have a way more abundant lifestyle because I’m not shovelling the walk, I’m not taking care of the yard.”
Isaman is part of a growing contingent of Canadian families opting for the compact condo lifestyle over the white picket fence and the sprawling suburban McMansion as space runs out in Canada’s biggest cities and housing prices remain out of reach for many.
The latest tranche of census numbers doesn’t delve into the specific phenomenon of condo ownership or house prices; that’s for a later release scheduled for October. But it does illustrate a waning appetite for single-family dwellings among the millions of Canadians living in the country’s largest cities, many of whom are favouring the highrise life.
