September 29 2017
Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News Update
September 29 2017. In today’s news: LRT lessons, Bombardier, mortgages, cashing out, density, demographics, walking away from a real estate deal, death of an industrial town
It’s a revolution that probably won’t happen
Tiny homes are all the rage. But the market is more bust than boom.
Hamilton business owners hear lessons learned during LRT construction in KW
About 30 business owners and residents joined a tour arranged by Hamilton’s chamber of commerce to see the results of years of construction on the 19-kilometre ION light rail transit line. The wait for light rail transit has entered the eerily empty stage in Kitchener-Waterloo.
Speaking of eerily empty. Where are the cars?
Bombardier met delivery goal to the TTC by shipping unfinished streetcars. Documents obtained by the Toronto Star show how Bombardier needed concessions from the TTC to meet its target of 30 cars by the end of 2016.
Average Canadian mortgage nears $200K, up 5% in a year
Barely 1 of 200 mortgage holders is behind in payments. It’s not just that people are borrowing more — more people are borrowing, too.
Waiting to cash out
Newly released statistics show a growing trend of both investors and homeowners getting what they can out of the market
Getting Density Right
When well designed and located in the right places, density can have immensely positive impacts. In fact, we absolutely need density to create walkable, complete communities where people can thrive
Canada had more one-person households in 2016 than at any time since Confederation in 1867
What does Canada’s census reveal about our housing needs? Lots of statistics
What happens when a buyer walks away from a real estate deal?
There have been increasing reports of problematic closings, particularly for expensive detached houses, many of which sold for amounts inflated high over asking. Now, the victors of those bidding wars are facing a sobering reality: as the average Toronto home price has fallen 19 per cent since April’s Fair Housing Plan announcement, buyers may have lost value before they even receive the keys.
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper
The market town stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the north-west’s mighty industrial cities – until a football stadium relocation and rival shopping centres gutted its historic centreThe north remembers: how once-proud Bolton became ‘a nothing of a town’.
Plans for new downtown Kitchener building unveiled
The property at 345 King Street West, between Water and Francis streets, was sold by the city to Perimeter Development earlier this year for approximately $2.34 million. It currently contains 43 parking spaces.
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KW Cooldown?
These facts about the Kitchener-Waterloo real estate market are true: Homes are selling for, on average, less money than they were earlier this year. They’re spending much longer on the market. Bidding wars are far less common.
These facts about the Kitchener-Waterloo real estate market are also true: Homes are selling for quite a bit more money than they were one year ago. They’re still being snapped up more quickly than usual. There remain fewer listings than the market typically sees.
Arson, he wrote
A man has been charged with seven counts of arson causing property damage and one count of breach of probation. The charges are from seven fires in July and August.
Parachuting into Cambridge
Tanya Khattra is among four people seeking the nomination to represent the PCs in Cambridge and North Dumfries in the next provincial election. Her candidacy in the local race has raised some eyebrows, since until very recently she’s had no history of residency or political involvement in this region. She’s still maintaining office hours at a dental clinic in Calgary, which she owns, and used an Alberta driver’s licence when she filed her candidate’s paperwork on Sept. 17.
What I’m thinking about
The symbiotic relationship of racoons and garbage. It was in this story about Toronto’s new raccoon-proof green bins that got me thinking about winter-proofing my house. It’s time. It is time to put away the patio furniture, turn off the outside water, close the pool.
I live in a 100-year old home in UpTown Waterloo. The critters get in. Not raccoons and birds anymore, now that I have had the soffits updated (the old ones were like some kind of old timey plywood).
Mice. I have a problem with mice, I didn’t know we had mice until the cat died.
I have a couple of traps. I set them with peanut butter. Mice go in but cannot get out. I take them to a local park and let them go near (in) the trash can. Last year I caught 14 mice. That’s a record. That is a record I don’t hope to break this winter.
