Toronto neighbourhoods on the rise in 2017 are located away from downtown, where cheaper rents and real estate costs are spurring development and encouraging intrepid entrepreneurs to take chances on business ventures that might be impossible in more established areas. It's an exciting time for this city, as previously sleepy stretches are continually being injected with new life.

Here are my picks for 5 neighbourhoods to watch this year.

Birch Cliff

This neighbourhood is often lumped in with the Upper Beaches, but is actually located further east where there's lots of exciting action taking place on Kingston Rd. To the south are gorgeous luxury homes, but along the main street a mini condo boom has brought new life to the corridor east of Victoria Park, including the requisite third wave indie coffee shop. Look for plenty more development here has the Upper Beaches gets more and more expensive.

Weston

With the arrival of the UP Express and GO Station, Weston's stock took a turn up. With typically reasonable rents and real estate prices, it's feasible to use the airport train to commute downtown in just over 20 minutes. The area has always had a village-like vibe thanks to the retail strip along Weston, but with work set to commence on an Artscape hub and a new pedestrian bridge linking the residential portion of the neighbourhood with transit and retail, watch for more changes here.

Gerrard East

Located at the eastern edge of Riverdale, this stretch of Gerrard St. is a micro neighbourhood currently undergoing a transformation from a sleepy interstice between East Chinatown and Little India into a bustling restaurant and retail community. Led by Mad Dog Coffee over five years ago, the street is starting to bloom with spots like Saturday Dinette, Hailed Coffee, and a few more in the works. There's plenty of empty retail space to be filled as the strip gains in popularity.

Six Points

Is there an area where more is going on than Six Points? Major construction to reconfigure the complicated intersection will begin this year as surrounding condo developments sprout up all around what will soon be the home of a Metrolinx transit hub at Kipling Station. Should plans move forward to redevelop the Honeydale Mall site to the west, this entire area could become the long awaited "Downtown Etobicoke."

Rockcliffe-Smythe

Before everyone gets to0 excited about Airbnb's classification of this neighbourhood as the hottest in Toronto, bear in mind that savvy home buyers have been targeting this area for a while now. The high number of Airbnb listings is itself a testament to all the young homeowners here. Why? There's tons of parkland nearby, the Stockyards has injected a retail hub nearby, and the housing prices are still attainable. Look for more retail to sprout up this year along St. Clair.