Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News
July 25 2018
Wednesday July 25, 2018. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: active listings, the speed of price growth, baby boomers staying home, rent-to-own scams, when to replace your old furnace, quantum computing and traffic jams, merging school systems, Antilia, hitchhiking
Market snapshot — active listings
In Kitchener Waterloo the number of active listings has been hovering around 780 homes (510 freeholds) all summer. What sells is getting replaced by new listings. That means that there is no pressure on prices to come down. In fact, homes that my clients have been interested in have sold for an average of more than 6% over listing price — thought there have been some outliers that have pushed that number up and there are a number of conditional sales that have not reported the sold price yet, which might bring the average down.
Ontario markets outside Toronto see accelerated home price growth
While the Toronto residential market has seen the median cost of its housing shrink in Q2 2018, price growth accelerated in other major Ontario locales such as Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, according to the latest Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast. The average price of a standard 2-storey home increased by 8.9% annually across the region (up to $515,733) in the second quarter of the year. Meanwhile, the median price of a bungalow grew by 6.2% year-over-year (up to $443,572), and the average price of a condominium rose by 5.1% in the same time frame (up to $287,080).
Baby boomers staying in their current homes
According to a new IPSOS poll, 93% of Canadians aged 65 and above feel it is important to stay in their current home throughout their retirement.
Rent-to-own scams
On the surface, rent-to-own deals can seem like a great idea. If you have shaky credit or lack sufficient financing, a rent-to-own plan can allow you to work toward homeownership. The premise is simple: You pay monthly rent toward the purchase of the home, and at the end of the set term, you’ll own the property. Sounds perfect, right? But beware: The rent-to-own landscape can be a minefield of scams and deceptions designed to take your money—and leave you in the dust.
Should you replace your ageing furnace?
Everyone likes a trooper; especially when it comes to appliances. Sometimes the best ones are those we rarely have to think about: quietly standing by, doing their jobs; making us more comfortable. Occasionally, they last well beyond their normal lifespan.
Quantum computing could put a stop to traffic jams
The premise and promise of a quantum computer managing traffic flow is that, with the right algorithms, it could approximate the most-efficient futures of an LA rush hour and orchestrate routes that not just redirect cars and buses around a traffic jam, but steer them home on routes that prevent the traffic jam from happening in the first place.
Is it time to merge Ontario’s two school systems?
School consolidation will result in significant and recurring cost savings, and will do so in an equitable manner that does not threaten existing services or facilities. Consolidation of school systems will save money by eliminating service duplication, and it will eradicate enrolment competition between the two systems.
Antilia
The most expensive house in the entire world is practically big enough to be its own world. It is one of the most opulent and extravagant structures ever made. It is estimated to cost around $2 billion and it is gargantuan.
Hitchhiker’s guide to the 2010s
I still remember when I picked up my last hitchhiker. It was just south of Duncan BC at a spot that would often have hitchhikers. This guy had hitched down from Alaska and was on his way to Oregon, I remember. There was nothing else memorable about the hitch except that it was the last time I ever picked anyone up. After that, it just seemed to quickly disappear.
I went to University in Ottawa. My family lived in Kingston. I must have hitched between the two cities dozens of times. I hitched all over Europe and up the coast of Malaysia.
It used to be a summertime thing. But now I don’t think it’s done anymore.
Here’s an article in Maclean’s that talks about it. Why Canadian baby boomers gave up on hitchhiking
