I’ve been house-hunting adjacent for the last couple of months. I’m not moving but several of my friends are or just have. That means I’ve looked at several condos and apartments and wow, many of the spaces really deserve a serious cut-eye for the size compared to the price. Even in a soft condo market.

A micro-condo can clock in at 350 square feet (or less!) and right now cost about $350,000. Bigger ones, in the 500-650 sq. feet range in Toronto sit in the $450,000 range. Plus, a lot of these are new builds post 2018 so there’s no rent control. So if you’re a renter, you’re already paying way more than the condo is worth, then may face a jacked up price next year.

There are absolute advantages of living in a condo in the city. Like today, with the first snowfall. You don’t have to shovel and your favourite coffee shop is right there but here’s my minor pet peeve: the small, weirdly shaped condos are often sold as an affordable, eco-conscious solution for singles.

I say they’re an insult, suggesting that single people’s lives are smaller, less important, transient and undeserving of space or comfort. I’m not the only one who thinks so.

The singles squeeze

Nearly 30 per cent of households here are people living alone. Yet our housing system, from design to policy, is still dragging behind building infill housing. In fact, some provinces cough, Ontario have given up on building housing. Tiny condos just sit on the market now.

This annoys me for several reasons. Small spaces ‘suited’ for one person suggests a transitory time. Singles still host dinners, have hobbies, work remotely, and adopt pets. Some care for aging parents or siblings. Some are divorced, widowed, or simply prefer autonomy. Designing homes that assume a single person has no need to cook, entertain, store things, or have privacy isn’t efficient, it’s ignoring how we live.

It might be different if there were affordable or free third spaces where we can spend time, almost creating a larger living space with a blend of indoor and outdoor space. Instead, coffee shops have time-limited seating, food courts have security roaming and other third spaces, like parks, will be covered in snow until May or June, depending on where you live.

Tiny condos often eliminate the functions that make a home feel like home: a dining area, a place to read, draw, do crafts or even a closet big enough to store stuff. Not everyone is a minimalist and small condos force you to do that. You can’t build community, memories or a stable life in a space that treats you as temporary but wants you to pay a lot for it.

The market is also saying nope

Even the market seems to be rejecting the micro-condo myth. Mortgage Professional America reported in 2024 that units under 550 square feet in the Greater Toronto Area are becoming harder to sell. Buyers, including singles, increasingly prefer larger one-bedroom or two-bedroom layouts that have more room. Tiny condos are just sitting on the market, which is what they deserve.

That’s not surprising. Living in a tiny condo may work for a few years in your twenties, but as remote work, inflation, high prices for detached homes in desirable locations and higher interest rates reshape urban life, the appeal fades. The supposed freedom of minimalist living starts to feel like a permanent constraint, telling you that you have to change yourself to fit into the space, instead of fitting the space to you.

This week’s readings:

The budget came out last week and I took a look to see if us singles got anything. Nothing specific, of course, but banking fees for transferring your investment accounts like RRSPs or TFSAs will be banned. Nice. It costs about $150 to transfer them, which I paid when I did it a couple years ago and I still resent it.

Something fun I found in the budget, the CBC will continue to get funding but also, to explore our participation in Eurovision? We do share a land border with a European country, which is more than Australia. (Sorry guys).

Do we slather up a singer in maple syrup and send them with backing singers made up of actual moose, beavers and polar bears? Could be fun amidst the bloodshed.

Also, open banking might be coming? We’ve heard this before so I am not that hopeful this time will be it. I also read that the federal government will be giving funds to the provinces to build health infrastructure. Which, cool, but if you have a premier who is privatising health care, will that make much of a difference in access?

The feds have also gotten rid of the luxury tax on boats. Which made me try to find numbers on luxury boat sales. I found these stats that said that the Canadian luxury yacht market is worth nearly US $900m.

Going back to Ontario for a minute, the earnings from the LCBO dropped below $2 billion this year. The money goes towards supporting infrastructure, hospitals and schools. Something to think about within the wider conversation about alcohol plus the grim economic prediction for Ontario with rising unemployment and lower job creation.

Even more stuff because November is financial literacy month

Fidelity’s 2025 Women & Money study found that 42 per cent of women are cutting back on spending due to economic uncertainties.

An RBC poll found that parents aren’t having the money talk with kids. What? One answer why is because parents are waiting for a key life moment to initiate the conversation.

On the other hand, Canadians’ overall financial confidence has risen above the historic average for the first time since 2021, according to the IG Wealth Management Financial Confidence Index.

Financial literacy is slowing coming along. A recent Ipsos study for HomeEquity Bank highlights how women 55+ are growing in confidence but only 49 per cent of women aged 65+ have what’s considered ‘high financial literacy.’ Everyone says there’s a need for ‘clear, jargon-free advice.’ People, I and other personal finance journalists are here ready to explain things. Send this newsletter to a friend.

Ok, this newsletter is getting long but one more thing: I wrote Are We Going to Feel Broke Forever for The Walrus. You should read.

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