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Population and Housing
Higher-density living reshapes region’s urban landscape
Nov 25, 2014 | Rose Simone | The Record | LINK

Quote:KITCHENER — Throughout Waterloo Region, the shift to more compact living is obvious.

Townhouses, condominium units and highrise apartment buildings are going up at a rapid pace, changing and redefining an urban landscape that has been dominated by single family houses.

To Erica McLerie, a senior market analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, it is a sign of the times and what people in this region will see more of in the future.

In the past, as the region's population grew, the construction of single detached homes and multi-unit buildings went up in tandem, she said. Now, there is a slowdown in the number of single houses being built, yet continued growth in the construction of apartments and townhouses, McLerie said at a housing outlookseminar at Bingemans in Kitchener on Tuesday.

This year saw more than double the number of apartment starts and 40 per cent higher number of townhouse starts, McLerie said. The housing corporation does expect the apartment construction to dip next year after the record-high 2,100 units built this year, as demand catches up with supply.

But the longer term future, into the year 2021, is definitely pointing toward more higher-density living, McLerie said. "That is due to the demographics as well as the affordability."

By 2021, there will be 30,000 more households in this region, McLerie said. But couple households without children and one-person households are the two segments growing the most. Those households don't need as much space, she added.

Behind this trend are millennials, who range from teenagers to people in their early 30s and baby boomers, ages 48 to 68, she said.

McLerie said about one quarter of adult children ages 25 to 29 are still living with their parents. They are likely to become future renters and, when they do buy, they will be looking for affordable housing options, she added. That generation is also more likely to form couple households without children.

Meanwhile, baby boomers represent 24 per cent of the population, and, as their children move out, they may want to downsize, while remaining in the same neighbourhood and community, McLerie said. "There will be challenges and opportunities to build the type of housing that this group will demand as they age."

Students and immigrants will continue to add to the apartment demand, she added.

Guelph, meanwhile, has even more demand, McLerie said. "The rental market is very tight in Guelph. It is one of the tightest markets in Ontario and that will likely continue," she said.

The Region of Waterloo's official plan is meanwhile calling for higher-density growth and infilling as opposed to suburban sprawl, McLerie said.

The light rail transit under construction in Kitchener and Waterloo will push that trend, with more condominiums and apartments being built around those stations, she added.

But the growth of the region will support all kinds of housing, including the already-existing single detached homes, McLerie said.

Prices of resale homes in the Waterloo region will continue to go up, although price increases are expected to slow down near the end of 2015 if mortgage rates go up, she added. Guelph, meanwhile, is expected to remain a "seller's market."

Since 2009, about 98,000 people have moved into the Waterloo region area, while 80,000 moved away, McLerie said. The more affordable houses, as well as jobs, are attracting people from Peel, York, Halton and Durham regions, as well as from other countries, she added.
If the figures in the article above are accurate since 2009 the region has only had a net population increase of 18,000. Unless this doesn't include local births?
(12-04-2014, 10:47 PM)rangersfan Wrote: [ -> ]If the figures in the article above are accurate since 2009 the region has only had a net population increase of 18,000. Unless this doesn't include local births?

Region of Waterloo population data would appear to support the data from CMHC (the numbers cited appear to be quite similar) both would use official StatsCan data while CMHC would also have additional more detailed data based on their own intelligence reports related to the very detailed housing data CMHC collects.

Year-End 2013 Population and Household Estimates for the Region of Waterloo
If I read the Region's numbers correctly, the population is growing at less than 2% and the peak growth rate was 2.63% per cent in 2004.  Are there any demographers out there that want to track this growth rate against the commercial and industrial activity from 1991-2014?  Has the high tech growth offset the manufacturing and other sector losses?  
The country is growing around 1% a year. So 2% is double the national rate.
Apartment surge fuels housing start increase

Waterloo Region Record
By Record staff


WATERLOO REGION — Housing starts in Waterloo Region increased almost four-fold in November due to a surge of apartment construction.

Foundations were poured for buildings containing 753 housing units, up from 191 in November 2013, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday.

Last month's total includes 84 single-detached homes, up from 52 a year earlier.

Buildings containing 646 apartment units were started last month. That compares to 106 apartment units in November 2013. Of the apartment total, 624 are in buildings in Waterloo.

Housing starts in the first 11 months of the year totaled 4,067, up from 1,750 in the same period a year ago. The surge in apartment construction accounts for most of the increase.

"Strong demand from students, as well as immigrants, young households and seniors has supported apartment construction this year," Erica McLerie, the housing corporations senior market analyst for this area, said in a news release.

"With starts in 2013 below demographic demand, housing starts in 2014 have surged to meet pent-up demand,

The corporation said housing starts in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge census metropolitan area are trending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5,153 units, up from 3,806 in October.  ....

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5186...-increase/
Region grants $1 million for 15 affordable housing units
Waterloo Region Record
By Johanna Weidner

KITCHENER — The region granted more than $1 million to the Working Centre to create 15 affordable housing units in Kitchener, with about half expected to be ready for new tenants before summer.
They will be one-bedroom units, which are in high demand in Waterloo Region — leaving people waiting at least six years for a spot. ...

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5256...ing-units/

I believe that the building on King St E that used to house the Morning Glory Café is the first building that the Working Centre is renovating for affordable housing.  I imagine that the other two buildings mentioned in the article are also Downtown.
Yeah, the working centre also owns the building behind Morning Glory where Recycle Cycles and the Green Door are. The plan I heard was to remove the fencing and make the rear part of the building more pedestrian friendly and well-lit during the night. It's a neat little nook at could have potential for a nice little green space. The building that used to house Braun's locksmith is also slated to get upgraded apartments I heard (a rumour, I have no sources)
I have been wondering about the future of the old Braun building since last year, when I peaked inside and saw the beautiful, brick-walled space that had been created by stripping out the interior.
Waterloo housing: the dream … and the surprising reality 
Quote:In 2002, 73 per cent of all new housing across the region was traditional, single-family detached homes and 10 per cent was condos or apartments. As of 2014, just 25 per cent were singles and 42 per cent multi-unit residential.


Already, condos and apartments such as the Barrel Yards project, right on the LRT line, are springing up in anticipation of future residents that the line is expected to draw. Among these new developments are Momentum Corp.’s Red Condominiums and The42, located just steps from the new restaurants, shops and bars transforming Uptown Waterloo.

Both projects were aimed at the region’s large number of young, high-tech professionals, but the builders were surprised to find half their sales were to downsizing baby boomers, says Momentum partner Brian Prudham, 38. That’s despite a significant issue that could impede a mass move out of big family homes by baby boomers — condos here can cost almost as much as resale detached homes, which still average under $400,000.
It's pretty clear that you pay a hefty premium to live in an Uptown or Downtown condo, but it's a price that at least some are willing to pay. At the moment, the condo resale market is pretty flat, although sales of SFHs and townhouses seem to be decent.
Yes, of course.

I took the article to say two things that argue in favour of further intensification in the downtown cores:

1. As boomers retire and age they'll sell their SFHs in the 'burbs and move to the core. Therefore there will be an ample supply of resale SFHs for those who need them, e.g. those who are raising a family. There's no need to expand further out into the countryside.

2. Demand for housing in the core is coming not only from those boomers also from young professionals in high-tech jobs who don't want SFHs. Construction of the LRT will increase that demand further and provide other synergies from intensification.

The article failed to mention the university student population. That currently numbers about 50,000 between UW and WLU. Presumably that number is growing at least as fast as the population as a whole. That's almost all apartments and mostly near the universities.
(03-21-2015, 09:32 AM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, of course.

I took the article to say two things that argue in favour of further intensification in the downtown cores:

1. As boomers retire and age they'll sell their SFHs in the 'burbs and move to the core. Therefore there will be an ample supply of resale SFHs for those who need them, e.g. those who are raising a family. There's no need to expand further out into the countryside.

2. Demand for housing in the core is coming not only from those boomers also from young professionals in high-tech jobs who don't want SFHs. Construction of the LRT will increase that demand further and provide other synergies from intensification.

The article failed to mention the university student population. That currently numbers about 50,000 between UW and WLU. Presumably that number is growing at least as fast as the population as a whole. That's almost all apartments and mostly near the universities.

Points 1 and 2, yes. I don't know if I would count on increasing university student counts. Trends in student demographics are not increasing. The percentage of people pursuing higher education does increase, but the traditional student-aged population isn't. So WLU had declines in # of applicants for instance.
(03-20-2015, 11:26 PM)ookpik Wrote: [ -> ]Waterloo housing: the dream … and the surprising reality 



Quote:In 2002, 73 per cent of all new housing across the region was traditional, single-family detached homes and 10 per cent was condos or apartments. As of 2014, just 25 per cent were singles and 42 per cent multi-unit residential.


Already, condos and apartments such as the Barrel Yards project, right on the LRT line, are springing up in anticipation of future residents that the line is expected to draw. Among these new developments are Momentum Corp.’s Red Condominiums and The42, located just steps from the new restaurants, shops and bars transforming Uptown Waterloo.

Both projects were aimed at the region’s large number of young, high-tech professionals, but the builders were surprised to find half their sales were to downsizing baby boomers, says Momentum partner Brian Prudham, 38. That’s despite a significant issue that could impede a mass move out of big family homes by baby boomers — condos here can cost almost as much as resale detached homes, which still average under $400,000.

There is a mistake in this article. It's in the following paragraph:

Quote:The study supported what the region had already determined during its official plan process in 2009: that Waterloo only needed to expand its borders by an additional 80 hectares to accommodate enough suburban homes to meet population growth.

This 80 hectares of new greenfield the Region determined was needed to expand the boundaries by was not for housing or residential. It was for a land use designation referred to as "Prime Industrial Strategic Reserve (PISR)". In plain terms, this is essentially prestige employment lands. This expansion was contemplated for north Cambridge (i.e. north of Maple Grove) and the airport area in Woolwich. None of the 80 hectares of expansion lands was intended for housing.
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