Townhouses For Sale in West Shore, Pickering

From shoreline cottages to a bayside suburb

West Shore is bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, Frenchman's Bay to the east, Petticoat Creek to the west and the 401 to the north. Small seasonal cottages lined the shore from the early 1900s through the 1940s, and subdivisions followed from the 1960s onward.

Today the north end has two-storey detached and semi-detached homes with front garages, while the south end mixes ranch bungalows, older two-storeys and custom infill homes, many with water views. Townhouses are the exception here, not the rule.

The scarcity problem with West Shore townhouses

With only a handful of townhouse complexes, including those on Oklahoma Drive and Bayly Street, West Shore doesn't have many comparable sales at any given time. That cuts both ways.

For sellers, scarcity can help. For buyers, it means pricing is harder to judge and lenders' appraisals can come in below the agreed price if there are few recent sales in the same complex. Ask your agent for sales from the same complex over a longer period, and from similar complexes nearby, before you settle on an offer.

If you need a mortgage, keep a financing condition long enough to get the appraisal back. And as with any older complex, make the offer conditional on reviewing the status certificate, with attention to the reserve fund, recent fee increases and any planned roof, window or paving work.

Petticoat Creek, the bay and the lakeside trail

West Shore's parks are its strongest selling point. Petticoat Creek Conservation Area has an outdoor pool, a splash pad and lookouts over the Lake Ontario bluffs. Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park has a sandy beach and boat launch, and Bruce Hanscombe Park overlooks the bay. Dunmoore Park adds a ball diamond, soccer field, tennis court and playground.

The Frenchman's Bay Yacht Club offers docking and sailing lessons, and the Waterfront Trail connects many of these parks along the shore. For a townhouse owner with a small yard, the lakefront effectively becomes the backyard.

Whites Road, the 401 and a single bus route

Whites Road is West Shore's main route to the 401, which makes driving into Toronto straightforward. Transit is thinner: one DRT route serves the area and runs to Pickering GO, which sits across the bay to the east.

On Kingston Road to the north, the Durham-Scarborough bus rapid transit plan includes a Whites station, which should eventually give the area a faster link west into Scarborough. Until then, most West Shore households drive, and townhouse buyers here should expect to rely on a car for most trips.

Bluffs, creeks and building near the West Shore lakefront

Parts of West Shore sit near the Lake Ontario bluffs, Petticoat Creek and Frenchman's Bay, all areas the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority regulates for erosion and flooding hazards. For most townhouse owners this won't affect daily life, but it can matter if you plan a deck, a fence along the back or any change to grading.

Ask whether the complex or the lot falls inside a regulated area, whether the corporation has had any shoreline or slope work done, and whether anything is planned. Erosion repairs, when needed, are usually expensive and long term, and in a condo complex the cost would normally come from the reserve fund or a special assessment.