Ex Burbs are funny things. They are a kind of hybrid between the suburbs and the city. They were the original suburbs of Toronto before amalgamation when Toronto was a different kind of city with a much smaller and less complex layout.

They are closer to Toronto’s downtown core than the newer suburbs. So, if you work downtown, you will spend far less time travelling to your office than if you live in one of the newer suburbs like Milton. The access to the city and the transit system is much easier than those outer suburbs.

The selected ex burbs in which I work are some of the better ones. They have big lot sizes than most downtown homes, and often a wider selection of parks and ravines. They have the space and quietness of the suburbs. Like many suburbs they are still the terrain of box stores like Costco, Home Depot and Canadian Tire.

The ex burbs, however, are different than the suburbs. They are geographically close enough to Toronto that many of the attributes of the city are here more an more. The densification of condos and the growing density of the population is one good example. but there are also distinctive, small businesses popping up on the mains streets of the exburbs like indie coffee shops, burrito joints and even chocolate specialists and sellers of macrones. It makes for a very interesting hybrid with the best of both worlds.