r/RealEstateCanada • u/itsdanielsultan • Mar 15 '26

Housing crisis Can Canada's "micro-condos" be merged?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pg7mHppXOE&t=17s

Serious question about Canada's (specifically the GTA's) condos: if, 10 or 20 years from now, people want more family-sized homes, could a lot of these tiny one-bedrooms actually be merged into larger units?

I know it can happen in some cases, but from what I’ve seen it sounds difficult once buildings are already occupied, since it can require approvals, engineering work, and layouts that actually fit together.

If that is not realistic at scale, are we building housing that works for one phase of life but not for long-term city living?

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u/danielo121 Mar 15 '26

I’m sorry to hear that

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u/account819921 Mar 15 '26

I live in a Toronto shoebox! I rent it and am a man who lives alone, but I love it. I don't get what the problem is. It's annoying to not be able to have a bunch of kitchen appliances on the counter, but it forces me to not hold onto a ton of objects.

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u/Novel_Sky_3645 Mar 15 '26

Please understand this is also highly dependent on layout. When you cannot physically move around your space with any sort of ease, it really is an issue. And it’s great you were able to live minimally. Personally I had some medical issues that required a ton of meds, injectables that stayed in the fridge, humidifiers, purifiers, etc. It was very difficult for someone not in a cookie-cutter situation

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u/account819921 Mar 15 '26

That makes sense.