Dear reader,

Get ready for action. After two years of soaring interest rates, Toronto now holds a surplus of inventory for buyers who have been frothing on the sidelines. What’s more, on June 25, the capital gains tax for individuals is set to skyrocket from 50 to 67 per cent, meaning investors and cottage owners have an incentive to sell in a hurry.

Reporter Ali Amad paints the market picture in our second-quarter edition of Price Check, Curb Appeal’s top post this week. Choosing the $1-million mark as his point of reference, Amad dissects the recent sales of three very different homes in three very different neighbourhoods. The results may surprise you.

Also in today’s newsletter: a Ritz-Carlton unit with a giant halo hovering above it. Plus, a retreat in Port Carling equipped with a winter-proof sauna out back. Visit torontolife.com or subscribe to our print edition for all of our real estate coverage and more.

How much house will $1 million fetch in this market? Once the baseline for a family-friendly semi downtown, such a figure today represents a kaleidoscope of options for would-be owners, including a Riverdale Victorian with an unfinished basement, a fixer-upper bungalow in East York and a corner-unit condo overlooking Dufferin Grove. Reporter Ali Amad breaks it all down in the latest edition of Price Check.

What Ritz-Carlton condo would be complete without 6,000 square feet of breathing room, 180-degree views, a labyrinthine wine cellar, a complimentary town car and a giant halo hovering above it all?

Here’s a $5.9-million four-bedroom, three-bathroom Muskoka escape that comes with a California-style kitchen, a two-slip boathouse, granite from the Canadian Shield and a 75-metre shoreline? Take the tour now.

In the latest issue: our annual ranking of where to eat now. Plus, the small-town doctor who tore his community apart, confessions of a reformed shoplifter, an eye-popping history of Budweiser Stage, and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today.