Article content continued



According to monthly statistics from the Ottawa-based Canadian Real Estate Association, which represents about 100 boards across the country, the average sale price in Hamilton-Burlington reached $514,722 in April, a 14.3 per cent increase from a year ago. It’s part of an overall trend that is seeing both sales and prices spike across the Greater Toronto Area. In Kitchener-Waterloo, prices were up 14.3 per cent in April from a year ago to $393,527.

The effect of rising prices is being felt just as keenly in the outlying areas of Vancouver. Greater Vancouver prices rose 21.7 per cent in April on a year-over-year basis, but in the neighbouring Fraser Valley the price of a home rose 29.8 per cent to an average of $715,953 during the same period.

Robert Kavcic, senior economist with Bank of Montreal, said cities like Niagara Falls were “off-the-radar,” but those days may be over.

“We’ve seen this for a while where the GTA strength is just spreading out. It started with Hamilton, then K-W and now it seems to be pushing even further out in that direction,” said Kavcic, adding that the provincial greenbelt, which might be expanded, is limiting development. “If you look at where the greenbelt goes, (Niagara) is one of the last places to develop. You can’t push further north, you can’t push west, you go around the edge of the lake.”

Affordability is driving the decision to relocate into what is called the Greater Golden Horseshoe or GGH, replacing GTA as the moniker for affordable living. In the Niagara region, prices climbed 11.4 per cent in April from a year ago — sales climbed 22.2 per cent during the period — but for an average of $314,489 you can still get a 1,500-square-foot bungalow with a detached garage on 40-foot lot.