A new trend is emerging in the local real estate market that appears to be backed by mass migration.
Last month’s real estate numbers show that the number of sales is falling, but prices aren’t.
When homes go on the market, there’s increased competition. A lot of that competition is coming from the 416 area code.
A Western University economist crunched the data looking at people living the Greater Toronto Area, and it turns out that Waterloo Region is the fourth most popular destination in Canada: while only 3,900 people moved from here to Toronto, almost 8,000 did the opposite.
“You do get a lot more space for less here, but I do notice the prices are coming up a little bit,” says Adrianna Djkowski. She moved from Toronto to Kitchener spontaneously to land a job at a local tech firm.
Here, she says, buying a property is a possibility, an idea that seemed too far out of reach for her in Toronto.
Brian Santos, president of the KW Association of Realtors, says the prices have remained high because inventory is so low.
“If there’s a real good house out there, chances are there’s going to be multiple offers on it,” he says.
Another reason for the net migration of over 4,000 people from the big smoke is child care costs, which, paired with the high cost of living in Toronto, can price people out of the market there.
