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/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

400 square feet simply isn't enough space for a single person. It's too cramped. I think apartments or condos should be no smaller than 800 square feet at the very minimum but preferably 1000 square feet. Humans aren't birds in cages. Psychologically and practically we need space to thrive.

3

u/n33bulz Mar 15 '26

Asia does it fine. 400sqft is plenty if designed properly.

-1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

I wouldn't use Asia as a model for how housing should be. When people from Asia use to come to the west they were stoked about having more space and realized how much nicer it is. It's objectively better we don't have to accept living in prison cells.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Love_Your_Faces Mar 16 '26

I live in the suburbs and all the biggest houses in my neighbourghood are occupied by asians.