KW realtors see highlights, red flags in Premier Wynne's housing plan
Local real estate president hopeful it will ease demand for local housing from the GTA
James Craig, the president of the board of directors for the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, hopes 16 measures announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne this week to cool the hot housing market in southern Ontario will ease the demand for the local market.
"It's tough. What we really wanted to see is how do you get more units into the marketplace," Craig told The Morning Edition with Craig Norris on Friday.
"Increasing the amount of supply I think was key and I don't think we saw enough of it."
The local real estate association took a close look at all of the items on the list and Craig said among the highlights was to a move to make land available from municipalities to create low-income housing or other new homes.
He admits the rent control measure, which expands rent control to all private rental units including those built after 1991, caused a bit of a concern.
"Challenge with that is if you look at an apartment say at a thousand dollars a month, that's basically $25 a month increase which costs of hydro alone are likely going to exceed that," said Craig.
"To be able to keep these places maintained properly and in good condition for people to want to own them we don't think that's reasonable enough."