The Annex, ON
Guide de location
The place for rich students and well-off profs
About
Frat boys from the University of Toronto live next to their profs and down the street from their rich uncles in the Annex. The lively and charming neighbourhood is just a stone's throw away from the University of Toronto, providing a rental market with a healthy mix of students, faculty and young professionals. Despite so many students, the average income in this neighbourhood is far higher than the city's average, and the wealth of its residents shows in the immaculately renovated homes, located on quiet one-way streets. Many homes in the Annex are large and brick, and a number of them were converted into multi-family dwellings during hard times, but have since been changed back into single-family houses more recently. The architecture in the Annex draws tourists who come to see a style of house unique to this community. Meanwhile, the Annex should not be confused with a sleepy, bedroom community. Contrarily, shops and restaurants keep their doors open late for longer off-campus social time. There's plenty of shopping and patios to be found along Bloor especially. Bloor is the neighbourhood's southern border, with Dupont to the north, Avenue in the east and Bathurst west.
Rental Options
The Market
Avg. rent by housing type and size
Studio/Bachelor: $880
1-bedroom: $1,225
2-bedroom: $1,850
3-bedroom: $2,400
Avg. rent compared to other Toronto neighbourhoods
The Annex is 15% lower than TO average
Typical housing type
Brick-faced semi-detached homes and apartment buildings
The Annex Rental Market: Homes for rent in the Annex is one of the more affordable options for students wanting to live close to the university but not in rez, and for young couples wanting to live close, but not too close, to downtown. The Annex houses for rent can be found in many forms from single rooms to basements to full floors for rent.
Life & Style
After class, university students and profs take to the stretch of cafes, boutiques, bars and restaurants along Bloor to unwind. Bloor aside, the neighbourhood's streets are speckled with bars and restaurants that turn a good business, offering good food, live music and decently priced drinks. Thanks to their incomes in part, as well as the university's culture, you'll find very trendy people roaming the streets of the Annex, with perfectly groomed beards and skinny jeans.
Neighbourhood
Some of Bloor's best destinations for a student's growling stomach are Harbord House, Famoso Pizzeria, Insomnia and Rose and Sons. For shopping, Honest Ed's wild thrift store is a destination in itself, as is Sonic Boom record store and the Bloor Cinema. There's a Jewish community centre here and many residents work out at the U of T's athletic centre.
Fun Fact
This is the home of the Annex-style house. Its architecture is unique to this area only, and features brick exteriors, Romanesque arches, prominent attics, turrets and Credit Valley sandstone accents. The style was most popular among Toronto's richest residents in the late 1800s.
