First time buyers are expected to be lining up to participate in Madonna’s promotion for condo purchases in Toronto, according to news reports today. “Who better to promote Toronto’s slumping condo market than the Material Girl?” asks Bloomberg here. She’ll reportedly lead an “Addicted to Sweat” dance class next month at her Hard Candy Fitness studio inside Aura, a new 78-story condo tower in Toronto (presumably prospective buyers will have opportunity to stretch their biceps in the tower’s gym while exploring stretched values in Toronto’s overbuilt condo market).

Aura is not only Canada’s tallest condo building, says Bloomberg, it’s “a monument to Toronto’s 10-year building boom. The glass tower, with 985 apartments, is contributing to the 20,000 units set for completion in 2014, a record annual surge. And a total of 60,000 units are under construction in Toronto. The building spree that began in 2004 has already created at least 125,105 units and about 600 high-rises, including conversions, transforming the skyline of Canada’s biggest city.”

“It’s a market that will correct,” says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC. “Sales are already sliding down, dramatically in fact. Prices will eventually follow suit.” The developer meanwhile, still detects a sense of urgency: “We’re very excited to have Madonna’s gym. We’ve had incredible interest in the building’s remaining units, especially the penthouse suites. This will only draw more attention to that as suite owners get access to this world class gym.”

~Sawdust~

Speaking of gyms, I returned home earlier this week for a quick change of clothes in an effort to jumpstart a January ‘workout calendar’. As I opened the door to leave, my two-year-old Evie asked where I was going. When I explained that I was going to the gym, she said “So you can get taller, right Daddy?”