Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News
May 8, 2019
Wednesday May 8, 2019. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: buyers, sellers, home sales, supply, prices, SJAM, school rankings, cats, more cats, offer price, Tesla, livability, nuclear testing, spam calls, robocalls…and cats.
1
More buyers than sellers
I have a client that keeps asking me why home prices in Kitchener-Waterloo keep going up. I told him, “because there are more buyers than sellers”. It was a flippant answer, I know but it also is the heart of the matter. It doesn’t really matter what the underlying cause is. It could be our tech sector, great schools and universities, proximity to Toronto, excellent lifestyle…and a host of other reasons, but clearly the reason home prices go up is that there are more buyers than sellers. That’s all we really need to know.
2
Average and median home sale prices hit new high last month
- There were 623 residential sales in April, an increase of 1.1 per cent versus the same month last year, and up 2.2 per cent compared to the previous ten-year average for April.
- The average sale price of all residential properties sold in April increased by 10.9 per cent to $529,800 compared to April 2018.
- Median prices reached an all-time high in April. The median price of all residential properties sold last month increased 11.4 per cent to $490,000
- We listed 913 residential properties in K-W and area last month, a decrease of 6.9 per cent compared to April of 2018, and a decrease of 1.6% in comparison to the previous ten-year average for the month of April.
- The total number of homes available for sale in active status at the end of April totalled 884, a decrease of 6.1 per cent compared to April of last year, but still well below the previous ten-year average of 1,485 listings for April.
- Months Supply of Homes for sale stood at 1.8 month in April a decrease of 5.3 per cent compared to last year.
- It’s still very much a seller’s market for anyone who is looking for a home under $600k.
3
SJAM has best ranking in Waterloo Region: Fraser Institute
Sir John A. MacDonald school has an 8.1 out of 10. WCI has a 7.2 out of 10. That’s above the provincial average. See how all Kitchener-Waterloo schools rank here.
4
300 cats
Toronto Cat Rescue and Toronto Animal Services were called to a “perilous hoarding situation” in North York on Saturday where over 300 cats were found in a small, 18th floor apartment unit.
5
When should you offer over asking price?
Offering over asking price on a house often makes buyers uncomfortable. But let’s face it, paying above list price is what you have to do in certain circumstances—at least if you really have any hopes of getting that house. Here are 7 circumstances when you should go big and get the home.
6
Tesla
Rumour has it that Kitchener-Waterloo is getting a Tesla dealership.They recently purchased the Saab dealership at 663 Victoria Street North.
7
Best places to live
Six-in-10 Canadians put easy access to shopping, dining and green spaces at the top of their liveability criteria. Proximity to public transit (36 per cent), work (30 per cent) and to preferred schools (18 per cent), as well as cultural and community centres (18 per cent) fall out of the top five neighbourhood wants and expectations.
8
53 years of nuclear testing in 14 Minutes: a time lapse film by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto
Take a look at the new time lapse map created by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto. It is beautiful in a simple way and eerie as it documents the 2,053 nuclear explosions that took place between 1945 and 1998.
9
Phone calls from the edge
My cellphone rang the other day and I picked it up. It was a client calling and she said, “Oh, I was expecting to leave voicemail”.
“Oh, oh”, I thought, “I never answer my phone anymore”. That’s not good for someone in sales, is it?
The problem is, of course is too much phone spam — telemarketing calls and robocalls. According to this article, the average American receives seven robocalls per month. I’m sure the number is as high for Canadians. So the choices are:
- Let everything go to voicemail
- Capture and add to contacts the numbers of everyone who calls you
- Answer all calls and deal with the spam
10
What to read next:
Which is the best Kitchener-Waterloo neighbourhood for me?
Last week on Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: YouTube, cold cuts, price trends, offer letters, tradeoffs, tech, purchasing power, Venice, Fomo, Jomo…
