Population and Housing

[The85]

Waterloo housing: the dream … and the surprising reality 

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:

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.