493 homes for rent in Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill runs up the Yonge Street corridor in the middle of York Region, between Vaughan and Aurora. The older town is along Yonge itself; Oak Ridges sits at the northern end on the moraine that gives it its name, around Lake Wilcox. The Richmond Hill Centre area near Yonge and Highway 7 is the densest part and is where most of the recent apartment construction has gone. It is a town that has absorbed a great deal of growth while keeping a recognisable main street.

Richmond Hill has one of the largest East Asian communities in the GTA, and that is visible in the retail along Yonge and Highway 7 and in the civic life of the town. The housing market is weighted toward detached houses — they are the majority of active listings — and prices for them are among the higher ones in York Region. There is a real condominium market around the Centre and along Yonge, which is where most first-time buying happens. Townhouses are the middle rung and there are relatively few semis.

Two things matter for a buyer. The first is the Oak Ridges Moraine: it constrains development in the north of the town, protects a good deal of green space, and means that large parts of Oak Ridges will not be intensified. The second is transit. Richmond Hill is served by the GO Richmond Hill line and by buses on the Yonge and Highway 7 rapidways, but it has no subway, and the long-discussed Yonge extension is not built. Buying on the assumption that it will be is buying on a promise.