October 10 2018 Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News

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Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News

October 10 2018

 

 

Kitchener-Waterloo. Wednesday October 10 2018. In this week’s Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate News: new balance, September’s indicators, sold data, wrong neighbourhood, mould, Canadian tech start up cities, real estate indicators, walkability, real estate blogs  

The good, the bad and the balancing

The headline said that Toronto real estate had its worst September in 17 years, (or something like that. I didn’t read the story. I never do when its hyperbolic and its always hyperbolic in Toronto). But for the better or worse, things are changing. It’s kind of tragic or funny really, the current state of our real estate market. Last year and the year before when the market was hot, buyers were frantically trying to buy something, anything before prices went up too much. Now than the market is in a better state, a less excited state, buyers are staying home.  Where are all the buyers? Are the high prices and stress testing keeping them out? Was the demand satisfied when the market was hyperactive? Is this the new normal? 

One thing is certain, nothing attracts a crowd, like a crowd. We learned that. 

September indicators

Here are five quick statistics to show you what is happening in our local real estate market 

  1. On a year-to-date basis, 4,558 residential units have sold this year compared to 5,345 during the same period in 2017, a decrease of 14.7 per cent.
  2. The average sale price of all residential properties sold in September is up 10 per cent to $492,398 compared to the same month a year ago. 
  3. We listed 824 residential properties in K-W and area in last month, a 10 per cent increase compared to September of last year, and 9 per cent above the historical ten-year average of 755. 
  4. The number of active residential listings on the KWAR’s MLS® System to the end of September totalled 1,005, which is 18.2 per cent higher than September of last year but 522 units short of the previous ten-year average of 1,527 listings for September.
  5. 448 homes sold in September, a decrease of 4.7 per cent compared to September of last year.

See all the stats here.

Sold for how much?

My neighbour has long had a habit of asking me how much homes in our neighbourhood just sold for. I can’t blame him. I’m sure everyone in every neighbourhood is wondering the same things and just what their homes are worth now. But now our typical conversations might change. Sold and historical data on property listings will soon be available on Realtor.ca!

Won’t you be my neighbour?

I talk a lot about neighbourhoods on keithmarshall.ca. It is much easier to change your house than it is to change your neighbourhood. But more than 1/3 of the people who moved in the past three years, according a recent survey regret the neighbourhood they choose. That’s a big whoops!

Mould (mold). Here’s a big knowledge bomb

This real estate blog tells you everything you ever wanted to know about mould. 

Best cities in Canada for tech startups

Here are the top ten cities to launch a tech startup according to the report:

  1. Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
  2. Toronto
  3. Montreal
  4. Ottawa
  5. Vancouver
  6. Gatineau
  7. Mississauga
  8. Hamilton
  9. Halifax
  10. Guelph

Six charts 

You know I love charts. I like predictions and graphs too. Anything economics related, like indicators and statistics always get my interest. So, here are six charts showing what is happening in the Canadian real estate market as a whole. 

Five rules for designing more walkable cities

I’m impressed with the progress that Waterloo Region has made with encouraging cycling in our cities. If you haven’t strolled through uptown Waterloo in a while, you should. With our trails and wide sidewalks we are quickly becoming a very walkable place to live and that’s good because walkability is high on most people’s list.  

Why aren’t there more real estate blogs?

I suppose I should be happy that I and only a handful of agents across this big country of ours are serious about our real estate blogs. We’ve carved out our little corners of the internet. And while our colleagues fight it out, spending big money on bus wraps, note pads, paid reviews, excessive signage, magazine ads, and hiring others to do the work for them, we can keep on doing what we are doing, away from the fray, away from the scrum, aside from the generic, common, traditional, all-inclusive marketing that they do. But why aren’t there more real estate blogs?

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