August 23, 2017

Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News Update

August 23, 2017. In today’s news:  Italy, fewer realtors, Pickering Airport, illegal drugs, condo fees, new home construction, foreign homebuyer tax, Shopify, Europabruecke, Europaweg, speculators.

Italy bans everything

Because of bad tourist behaviour, Italian cities have banned: bottles, cans, firecrackers, food trucks, selfie sticks, picnics and kebabs.

Exit, stage right

Since 2008, job growth for real estate agents has surged at ten times the pace of Canadian job growth. Now, as the market is expected to shrink, so too will the number of agents. A recent example? Following an oil price slump in 2015, sales in Calgary’s once booming housing market fell 5.5% from 2015 to 2016.  There are now 5.4% fewer realtors in the city than there were in 2008.

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No fly zone

Ottawa expropriated their home 44 years ago for the mothballed Pickering Airport. Now the family wants it back.

The worst kind of global free trade

Fentanyl originating from China, heroin sent from east Africa, and anabolic steroids from Moldova. These 9 maps show where Canada’s illegal drugs are coming from

How are Condo Fees Calculated?

There are essentially four things that determine how much you’ll pay: Size, age service and company.

The new home market continues to boom

New homes in Toronto continue to see strong demand from buyers – especially in the condo sector.

Affordability and spillovers

The Vancouver foreign homebuyer tax is one year old. Here’s what we learned.

Shops till you drop

Shopify’s Q2 results show 75% revenue increase as it celebrates 500 merchant milestone.

Europabruecke on the Europaweg between Graechen and Zermatt

Switzerland just opened the world’s longest suspension foot bridge along a trail toward the famed Matterhorn that features majestic Alpine views. The 494-meter bridge cuts the hiking time on the Europaweg trail by at least three hours between the southwestern towns of Graechen and Zermatt.

Blame it on Joe Canadian

In the recent past, many Canadians had the view that market speculators are foreign individuals but there have been increasing evidences which specifies that speculators are mainly Canadians.

Kitchener-Waterloo Shows New Home Sales Record

The month of May ushered in high sales that were recorded in the Kitchener-Waterloo housing market. This remarkable event struck twice in two consecutive months making it yet the highest recorded sales

Kitchener’s proposed plan to revitalize Queen Street

The historic street is in need of repairs and the city wants to redesign the area so that it’s much more appealing to residents and shoppers. Business owners are already behind the plan.

City wins both of year’s awards, for innovation and asset management.The City of Waterloo won awards in both categories recognized at this year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference in Ottawa, where the province’s 444 municipalities gathered to tackle issues and celebrate achievements