Archive for the ‘Ajax Real Estate’ Category
Durham real estate rebounds
The Durham Region Association of Realtors is reporting the best March in six years, and the best first quarter ever, in terms of sales.
The group reports 1,110 sales of single family homes in Durham in March. That helped toward a best-ever first quarter, with 2,461 sales.
March’s average price also reached a new height, coming in at $306,140, an increase of 16 per cent over March 2009′s average price of $263,970.
“It’s worth noting that although the annual rate of growth is currently quite substantial, the market will likely level out to smaller, single-digit rate increases soon,” said Dierdre Mullen, president of the Durham Region Association of Realtors. “As new active listings continue to grow and provide vaster options for buyers, eventually, availability will outweigh demand and the market will level out.”
As of April 1, there were 2,132 active listings in Durham. A record 2,016 of those were newly listed in March, the largest influx of new listings Durham has seen in one month.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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Pickering Village House for Sale – 38 Randall Drive
One Of The Most Affordable Homes In The Gta! Bigger Than It Looks, With 3 Bedrooms And Partly Finished Basement. Fenced Backyard And Your Own Garage. Through The Back Gate To Playground And Visitor Parking. Brand New Hot Water Tank. Freshly Painted Throughout. New Samsung Bottom Mount Fridge And New Dishwasher.
Pickering Village House for Sale - 38 Randall Drive
Fridge, Stove, B/I Dishwasher, Washer, Dryer, All Electric Light Fixtures, All Window Coverings. Also Include Chair And Sofa In Basement, And Patio Furniture.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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Five burning issues for voters in Durham Region
A shrinking auto sector, a long-range transit vision and the GTA’s first incinerator in decades dominate the local agenda
Phinjo Gombu – Toronto Star
1. Oshawa: The fortunes of Oshawa, Durham Region’s major employment hub, have declined dramatically in the last few years because of problems of its key employer, General Motors. GM’s operations have shrunk in the city after the closure of a major truck assembly plant and consolidation of car operations. That has reduced the company’s local workforce by several thousand jobs and also adversely affected scores of parts suppliers and residents who live in the city or close by. New initiatives such as a major provincial court facility are being built to rebuild and revitalize the downtown core, but major challenges remain.
2. Electing the chair: Voters in Durham Region are being asked this fall whether regional chair Roger Anderson should be directly elected by voters. Anderson is a former police officer and real estate agent who has led the region since 1997.
Regional chairs in Durham, Peel and York earn between $173,000 and $198,000 a year, and are chosen by members of regional council, who in turn are either elected to the region or sit on local town and city councils.
The motion to begin direct elections for this powerful position was introduced by Ajax Councillor Colleen Jordan, who, along with Ajax mayor Steve Parish, has been pushing for more accountability.
The question will appear on the ballots of all eight municipalities.
A private member’s bill has also been introduced at Queen’s Park by former cabinet minister David Caplan that would amend the Municipal Act to require direct elections for all upper-tier chairs.
3. Clarington incinerator: The provincial environment ministry has released its positive review of the environmental assessment (EA) study, moving Durham Region closer to building a $272 million energy-from-waste incinerator in Clarington.
But anger over the project continues to mount and the issue is sure to be front and centre in municipal elections, especially in Clarington.
The EA is now before Environment Minister John Gerretsen for final approval.
Some residents are concerned about health risks in the joint project with York Region, which could see the facility receive waste from municipalities in neighbouring Northumberland county and as far away as Simcoe County.
4. Northeast Pickering: Durham Region’s plan to build housing subdivisions on about 1,200 hectares of agricultural land in northeast Pickering has come under fire from the province because it conflicts with plans to curb sprawl.
Durham was the only GTA region to openly oppose the province’s Greenbelt legislation in 2007. Since then, environmentalists and some councillors on Pickering and Ajax council have warned the region that its plans to develop unprotected agricultural land between the Greenbelt and urban areas conflict with provincial legislation.
5. Transit: It is widely accepted that public transit in Durham lags behind all other GTA regions. Part of the problem is the geography; the region is largely rural, and east-west connectors to Toronto over the Rouge Valley Park system are limited. When the region amalgamated its transit in 2006, it received only $2.5 million in transition funding from the federal and provincial governments, compared with the $150 million received for the Viva bus system when York region transit was amalgamated a few years earlier. A recent study estimated Durham needs about $3.5 billion in public transit investment over the next two decades for higher-order transit, chiefly along Highway 7, Highway 2 and the Taunton Rd. to Steeles Ave. connection.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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