High Park Toronto Real Estate vs The Annex: Family Houses on Line 2 Compared

The short answer

High Park Toronto real estate and The Annex both draw families looking for a larger house in the west and central part of the city. Both sit on Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, both have streets of detached and semi-detached houses and both have plenty of apartment buildings near Bloor Street West.

The differences that matter for a move up purchase are the subway trip, heritage rules and what you may add to the lot later. The Annex has two subway lines and two heritage conservation districts. High Park is further from downtown on one line and the City lists no heritage district there.

This post compares the two on those points. For prices by property type and the housing stock, our full guides to High Park and The Annex carry the latest quarterly figures and current listings are on our High Park homes for sale and The Annex homes for sale pages.

Where High Park and The Annex sit on Line 2

Counted on the TTC map, High Park station is 8 stops west of Spadina station on the same line. Heading east from High Park station, Line 2 stops at Keele, Dundas West, Lansdowne, Dufferin, Ossington, Christie and Bathurst before it reaches Spadina and St George, the two stations at the heart of The Annex.

High Park is built around the park itself, with Runnymede, High Park, Keele and Dundas West stations along Bloor Street West. The Annex runs along Bloor Street West between Bathurst and Bay stations. Our map of Toronto shows both areas against the rest of the city.

Getting downtown from High Park and The Annex

High Park

Four accessible Line 2 stations serve the area. High Park station is at 35 Quebec Avenue and connects with the 30 High Park North and 203 High Park buses. Keele station at 21 Keele Street connects with the 41 Keele, 80 Queensway and 89 Weston buses. Runnymede station at 265 Runnymede Road connects with the 71 Runnymede, 77 Swansea and 79 Scarlett Rd buses.

Dundas West station at 2365 Dundas Street West has the most connections. The 504 King and 505 Dundas streetcars stop there and the TTC lists Bloor GO station, on the Kitchener line and UP Express, at 1456 Bloor Street West, 240 metres away. The TTC map also shows the 506 Carlton streetcar ending at High Park Loop.

The Annex

Spadina station and St George station are both interchanges between Line 1 Yonge-University and Line 2. St George station at 139 St George Street is listed by the TTC as accessible. At Spadina station the TTC lists the Line 2 section as accessible and the Line 1 section as not accessible. The 510 Spadina streetcar runs south from Spadina station and the 26 Dupont and 13 Avenue Rd buses stop at St George.

Bathurst station at 819 Bathurst Street anchors the west side of the area. It connects with the 511 Bathurst streetcar and the 7 Bathurst bus.

Stops to Union station

Station	Route on the TTC map	Stops to Union
St George (The Annex)	Line 1 south	6
Spadina (The Annex)	Line 1 south through St George	7
Bathurst (The Annex)	2 stops on Line 2 to St George, then 6 on Line 1	8
Dundas West (High Park)	7 stops on Line 2 to St George, then 6 on Line 1	13
Keele (High Park)	8 stops on Line 2 to St George, then 6 on Line 1	14
High Park (High Park)	9 stops on Line 2 to St George, then 6 on Line 1	15
Runnymede (High Park)	10 stops on Line 2 to St George, then 6 on Line 1	16

Union is 6 to 8 stops from the Annex stations and 13 to 16 from the High Park stations. For a household with two commuters downtown, that difference repeats twice a day. For a trip west or out of town, High Park is closer to Bloor GO and the UP Express. Our Toronto subway commute by neighbourhood sets out the same count for every area we cover.

Heritage rules: The Annex has districts, High Park does not

A heritage conservation district is an area protected by a City by-law under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act. Inside one, new construction, exterior alterations and additions need a heritage permit and must meet the district plan. Work that is not visible from the street, interior work and routine maintenance do not.

	The Annex	High Park
Designated districts	East Annex (1994); West Annex Phase 1: Madison Avenue (2015, LPAT approval 2019)	None on the City’s list
Under study	West Annex Phase II	None on the City’s list
What the City says	East Annex was the first large residential neighbourhood studied in Toronto as a potential district	Not applicable

The City says there is no cost to apply for a standalone heritage permit and most applications are approved within a week, though extensive alterations can take longer. A heritage permit does not replace a building permit; where both are needed they are assessed and issued together.

A house outside a district is not automatically free of heritage rules. The City can designate individual properties under Part IV of the Act, so check the exact address in either area before you plan an addition. We made the same comparison for the east end in Riverdale Toronto real estate vs The Beaches, which also covers the City’s tree and ravine permits.

Room to grow: multiplexes, garden suites and laneway suites

A move up purchase is often a bet on the lot as much as the house. Toronto now allows more homes on a residential lot than it did a few years ago and the rules apply in both neighbourhoods.

Multiplexes

The City defines a multiplex as a building with 2 to 6 homes. In May 2023 City Council permitted multiplexes of up to four units city-wide. On June 25 and 26, 2025 it adopted permissions for buildings of up to six units in the Toronto and East York District and Ward 23 and those amendments are now in force. An owner may convert an existing house or build a new multiplex, with building permits and zoning compliance in each case.

Garden suites and laneway suites

Both are self-contained homes in a separate building, usually in the rear yard. Which one applies depends on whether the lot shares a property line with a public lane.

	Garden suite	Laneway suite
Where	Rear yard, not on a public lane	Lot that shares a property line with a public lane
Permitted since	Council adopted the rules on February 2, 2022	Toronto and East York in 2018, city-wide on July 16, 2019
Zones	R, RD, RS, RT and RM residential zones	R, RD, RS, RT and RM residential zones
Permit	Building permit required	Building permit required

The City’s garden suite page says a suite can be two storeys depending on the site and can have a basement. It also says a garden suite should not result in the removal of a healthy by-law protected tree: one on private property with a diameter of 30 centimetres or more or any tree on a City street. A large tree in the back yard can therefore decide what you can build.

Inside an Annex heritage district, a new building in the rear yard may also need a heritage permit. The district plan says when.

Buying a house that already has tenants

Some houses in both areas hold more than one unit and some of those units are rented. If the house you want has tenants, the Residential Tenancies Act decides when you can move in, not the closing date alone.

The Landlord and Tenant Board’s guide sets out the rule for a purchaser’s own use. It applies only where the property has no more than three residential units. Once there is an agreement of purchase and sale, the seller can give the tenant Form N12 if one of these people will move into the unit:

• the purchaser or their spouse
• the purchaser’s child or parent
• the purchaser’s spouse’s child or parent
• a person who provides care services to any of them

The minimum notice is 60 days and the termination date must be the last day of a rental period or of the lease term. The tenant can dispute it at a hearing. The rules on compensating the tenant changed for notices given on or after September 21, 2026, so have your lawyer confirm what applies before you set a closing date. A fourplex or larger falls outside this rule.

High Park Toronto real estate and The Annex at a glance

Factor	High Park	The Annex
Subway lines	Line 2 only	Line 1 and Line 2
Stations	Runnymede, High Park, Keele, Dundas West	Spadina, St George, Bathurst
Fewest stops to Union	13 from Dundas West	6 from St George
Regional rail nearby	Bloor GO and UP Express, by Dundas West station	None listed on the TTC station pages
Heritage conservation districts	None on the City’s list	East Annex and Madison Avenue, West Annex Phase II under study
Multiplexes	Up to four units city-wide	Up to four units city-wide

The page on Toronto neighbourhoods with the most houses puts both areas beside the other house neighbourhoods we cover. Our Leaside vs Lawrence Park post makes the same kind of comparison for two midtown areas.

What to check before you move up

1. Walk from the exact address to the nearest station at the hour you travel.
2. Check the City’s list of heritage conservation districts and ask whether the property is individually designated.
3. Look up the zoning for the lot and whether it backs onto a public lane.
4. Note any tree of 30 centimetres or more where you might build.
5. Ask how many units the house has and whether any are rented.
6. Confirm school boundaries with the TDSB or TCDSB for that address.

Our guide to moving up in Toronto covers selling your current home and buying the next one, including bridge financing. If you own now and want to know what you would be moving up from, start with a home valuation. To walk streets in High Park or The Annex with us, contact us.