Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News
April 17, 2019
Wednesday April 17, 2019. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: uptown, Waterloo Region, home prices, bully offers, Shopify, homeownership, Notre Dame…
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UpTown where?
I’ve been spending a lot of time in UpTown Waterloo, going over old listings, house histories…real estate trend and price information. I found evidence of a major trend that I knew before but hadn’t really thought about for a while. It is this. There was no UpTown Waterloo fifteen years ago! In the home descriptions from days gone by, UpTown was characterized as being part of Westmount.
Neighbourhood boundaries are often expanding and contracting in terms of real estate marketing material. We all know this. But what’s interesting is that whereas twenty years ago living in Old Westmount was the aspiration of many people as their #1 choice, currently I think the #1 choice has moved across Westmount Road North, moved east and a little north into what is now UpTown.
2
Who does what in Waterloo Region?
With three tiers of government in Waterloo Region, it is a jumble of politics and shifting priorities. The Region takes care (mostly) of ambulances, police, transit, garbage, welfare, public health, the airport, public housing, provincial offences court, municipal borrowing. What about the rest? What about water and sewer, roads, planning, libraries, licensing and bylaws, arts and culture, economic development?
3
Canada’s average home prices will be relatively flat this year
The House Price Survey released last week by Royal LePage noted that the average home price in Canada grew by just 2.7% annually during the first quarter of this year. Major markets like Toronto and Vancouver are pulling down the national average. In Kitchener-Waterloo, average prices were up in January 5.3%, February 3% and March by 3.4%.
4
6 things your Realtor should tell you that you might already know
Real estate has a lot of moving parts. Also the industry, like most others is ever-changing. A good rule is never assume anything. If you don’t know, ask. If you think you do know, confirm.
5
Bully offers
Last week I got involved in a bully offer situation with some buying clients. Bully offers are not illegal but they are controversial and stressful for buyers, sellers and their agents. Statistics show that less than 10% of bully offers are successful. In the opinion of this Realtor and many of my colleagues, pre-emptive offers should not be considered. Here is a piece on bully offers.
6
Shopify #8
The only Canadian-founded tech company on the list, Shopify, according to a recent Linkedin survey is among the top ten companies in 2019 where Canadians want to work.
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Canadian homebuyers are hoping for a balanced market
According to a RBC’s annual home ownership poll, 56 per cent of Canadians think it’s better to wait until 2020 to become a homeowner. Here are some other findings:
- Eight-in-10 Canadians say a home or condominium purchase is still a good investment (81%).
- Canadians feel it makes more sense to buy than rent (66%).
- Canadians are well positioned to weather a potential downturn in housing prices (71%) or an increase in interest rates (63%).
- Affordability (21%) and being in a safe neighbourhood (20%) top the list of what Canadians must have, while buying in ‘the right’ neighbourhood is less of a concern (6%, steady decline since 2015).
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A brief history of ruin and repair of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame is perhaps the world’s finest example of French Gothic architecture. Construction on the cathedral began in medieval times—1160 in the Romanesque style, eventually morphing into its final Gothic style. Fire destroyed much of the building earlier this week.
Views of Notre Dame and Paris – 1920
Photographs of Paris made circa 1920 by photographer by Pierre-Yves Petit, aka ‘Yvon’
9
There’s no other business quite like real estate
David Letterman once said, “there’s no business like show business, but a lot of businesses like accounting”. That’s the kind of sentence that makes me think. Like show business there is a lot of drama and comedy in real estate, though not near as much glamour. And like accounting, there is a lot of number crunching and calculations in real estate, though not as much boredom.
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What to read next:
- Emotional resilience and home buying
- Last week on Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: winter market, spring market, downtown Kitchener development, March stats, homebuyers, agents, downsizing, tech clusters, World Bank open data, Philadelphia, jerks, negotiators…
