Why invest in the Waterloo region?

[Samuel Sedore]

The Waterloo region Kitchener and Cambridge more specifically were recently ranked as one of the #1 places to invest in Ontario by the Real Estate Investment Network tied for first with Hamilton! This is due to the consistent efforts of the local business's and governments's improving various aspects of the economic fundamentals needed to improve property values. Without going into to much detail I will provide some of the reasons why, if anyone is interested in a more detailed answer please feel free to contact me and we can discuss any questions you may have. Most of the information in this particular article will be focused on the Kitchener market.

Economic Stability

Although it was once mainly a manufacturing centre, the region has morphed into a multi-faceted economy by attracting new and different types of business. By investing in new sectors, such as digital media, biotechnology, and life sciences, the region has protected itself from job losses experienced in many other Ontario communities during the recession. With the biggest employer in Kitchener being Manulife with over 1000 employees, there are several other large employers with between 500-1000 employees. Kuntz electro-plating, Dare foods, Rogers communications and the universities and colleges just to name a few. You can see that the scope of work and target market of these industries are very diverse therefore when 1 particular industry goes through a rough patch it doesn't affect the region as a whole just a select few employees, I.E: (detroit,windsor)when the auto industry went through a recession a lot of us noticed certain areas being affected adversely than others as there were no other sources of employment to pick up the slack. Therefore people couldn't afford their mortgages and demand for housing dropped negatively effecting property values.

Political Climate

The cities of Kitchener and Cambridge are very lenient on their rental laws, while of course being governed under the Ontario wide rent control board that limits rental increase by a predetermined amount. They both allow additional rental suites to be added to a single family home within R-2 to R-8, CR-1, CR-2, and MU-1 to MU-3 zones, provided all the city’s by-laws are met. There no Rental licensing by-laws for secondary suites in Kitchener or Cambridge as opposed to Waterloo. Although all units must have adequate parking of one space per unit. The city of Kitchener is also very lenient on new business looking to move into the area offering a wide range of incentives that assist businesses: Brownfield remediation , Façade grant program, Startup Landing Pads program, Grants in lieu of building fees, Heritage tax rebates and grants. All of these programs are designed to revitalize previously developed areas of the city and encourage investment by the private sector, turning old run down factories and housing into new more desirable places for housing and business.

Transportation Access and Improvements

Over the last couple years the municipality has been putting a lot of money and resources into improving commute times with projects to fix various roads and streets and also by installing new LRT services and increasing the current bus services. Recently completing a $51 million project that included widening Weber Street from two lanes to four lanes, constructing an underpass beneath the CN railway tracks at Weber and Victoria Street North, and slimming the S-curve on Weber Street in north Kitchener . Currently there is $130 million worth of construction work being invested along Highway 7/8 through Kitchener and Waterloo. This includes Widening the western end of the highway in Kitchener which began in 2011 and is expected to be completed by 2016. GO train had made several improvements most notably a new station on Weber st at the existing VIA rail station, along with adding 4 new trips between Kitchener and Toronto and making various improvements to reduce commute times by 30 min expected completion is 2016. The Tri-Cities also decided in 2011 there future rapid transit technology will be LRT(light rail transit) and will be implemented in 2 phases, phase 1 an LRT route running from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener. As well as a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will then run from Fairview Park Mall to Ainslie Terminal in Cambridge. Phase 2 will be an LRT from Fairview Park Mall to the Ainslie Terminal in Cambridge, phase 1 is expected to be complete in 2017.

Summary

The combination of these 3 factors as well as many others will successfully compound and build off each other over the next several years to consistently increase property values. The transportation improvements will effectively bring the Tri-Cities much closer to the GTA, although the distance will not change in the sense of Kilometers. Today's commuters measure distance in commute time not Kilometres , by increasing the efficiency of the commute businesses from the GTA and surrounding areas are attracted into the city due to our affordable land, real estate and large selection of employees. This will have younger workers looking for rentals as they follow the jobs therefore increasing demand and in turn the amount landlords may charge as demand increases and as this happens property values will increase and the renters will slowly turn into buyers further boosting demand for purchase and increasing property values. This is already begining to become evident as the average sale price of all residential sales in 2014 increased 4.0 percent to $336,302 in Kitchener-Waterloo and the year to date average sale price in Cambridge increased to $329,112 up 5.7% from 2014.

All informtion cited from R.E.I.N, the Waterloo regions various websites, Kitchener Waterloo association of realtors website, Cambridge Real estate board website