Windsor Real Estate Blog

A two-year-old campaign to lure retired couples to the Windsor-Essex area is beginning to bear fruit — $46 million worth. That’s how much in retail sales the 161 families that have relocated have generated. And that’s only the beginning, say those involved in the 100-Mile Peninsula retirement living initiative.

“(It) is just starting to gain some traction,” said Phillip Young, whose son moved to Windsor to attend university before getting married and deciding to put down roots.

“We’d been coming here to visit and fell in love with it. We think others will as well given the opportunity. “We just need to tell the world we are open for business.” Citing low retail prices, a warm climate, golf courses, wineries, lakes, festivals, a casino, proximity to both amateur and professional sports and location, the Windsor Essex Active Retirement Community Initiative is making inroads in establishing the region as a preferred location for the 50-plus retirement demographic.

“Perhaps because we’re newcomers, we see the glass as half-full and not half-empty,” said Young who moved to Lakeshore with wife Frances from Edmonton. “I think we see the potential in what the region has to offer and not just the challenges.” Young has become an active volunteer on behalf of the retirement living initiative, conducting a survey of about 20 per cent of the area’s real estate agents to help determine the number of people who have moved here and what it’s meant in real estate sales.

According to Young’s research, 99 of the 161 new families have moved here from elsewhere in Ontario while 18 have come from British Columbia and another 17 from Alberta.

Windsor has been the largest recipient of these newcomers with 60 followed by Kingsville with 24, Lakeshore with 20, Leamington with 19 and Amherstburg with 15.

“We believe the numbers will be much higher once the survey is complete,” said Guy DiPonio, who is also a volunteer member of the initiative’s board of directors. “It’s one of those initiatives which has traditionally fallen between the cracks of tourism and economic development offices.” Partners in the campaign the Greater Windsor Home Builders Association, the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Windsor Essex County Real Estate Board. DiPonio said active retirees, or those over 50, are a growing demographic with 2.2 million living in Ontario alone. Canadians over the age of 50 also control 74 per cent of the country’s wealth, 58 per cent of its consumer spending, have an average net worth of $560,000 and $7 billion in retirement savings. Louise Keller and her husband Dennis started researching retirement alternatives two years before she and husband Dennis made the move. “We spotted Leamington in some articles about retirement living and it kept growing on us.” The Kellers now own a townhome in Leamington which they bought for less than the cost of a building lot in Surrey. “We had some issues initially with Windsor’s proximity to Detroit and its reputation for crime but once we visited, those fears went away,” said Dennis. DiPonio said it’s estimated that families make 4.6 visits before deciding to move and at that point, they are visitors and tourists. “It’s highly lucrative in both areas.” “Once they move, they’re an economic indicator whose spending generates jobs and economic growth.”

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Windsor has been proclaimed the cheapest place in the country to buy a middle-class home, which comes as no surprise to people who’ve already sold homes elsewhere for a bundle and paid substantially less for a better house here.

“To buy what we sold our place in Toronto for, we’d have a mansion here,” said Jo-Anne Coutts, who with husband Don left their condo in the Young and Eglinton area of Toronto in January, “semi-retiring” to a backsplit in Riverside and socking away the money left over.

So many of their friends couldn’t figure why they’d leave Toronto for Windsor, but Coutts says you can’t compare the two lifestyles. Here there’s no traffic, no stress, better weather, a wonderful waterfront, and everything — the parking, the restaurants — is cheaper.

She’s surprised more people from high-priced cities like Toronto aren’t flocking here.

“There’s nothing I can complain about, about Windsor.”

The report issued this week by realtor Coldwell Banker compared the average price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home — the kind of house many middle-class people want to own.

Compared to Vancouver ($1.3 million), Oakville ($741,638), Calgary ($551,920), Saskatoon ($484,000), Toronto ($495,398), Winnipeg ($343,160) and even working-class St. Catharines ($265,450), Windsor’s price is bargain basement cheap at $158,242.

The next cheapest city is Moncton, N.B., where a four-bedroom goes for $201,522. In Fort McMurray, Alta., where the average price is $593,390, it will cost you $439,900 to move into what appears to be a gussied-up mobile home.

The report paints Windsor as a great place to move for out-of-towners who are retired or work from home.

The Windsor area “has got a lot of positive things going for it,” said John Geha, president of Coldwell Banker Canada, citing the Detroit River and lakes, the county’s fruit and wine attractions, cross-border attractions and the mild climate.

For retirees from elsewhere in Canada who want a better climate but are leery to live in the southern U.S. because they want Canadian health care, Windsor is a great option, he said.

People who’ve moved here also cite the convenience of having Detroit Metro airport so close for travelling, access to golf courses, Detroit pro sports teams, and cultural attractions like museums and the symphony.

“That’s not fluff,” Geha said of all Windsor’s assets. “You take it as a very serious marketing opportunity.”

The local real estate board, home builders association and chamber of commerce have banded together for the 100 Mile Peninsula campaign, to encourage people and companies to move here, and touting low housing prices. No one from the campaign returned phone messages on Thursday.

Larry Moore, 38, said Windsor’s low-cost housing was one of the major reasons he moved here from Brandon, Man., five weeks ago. He’d previously been considering a job opportunity in Saskatoon, but he would have spent $450,000 to $500,000 for the kind of house he bought here for around $300,000. He landed a management position in Windsor at Anchor Danly.

“I came from a house that was three-bedroom, a bungalow built in the ’60s,” he said. “For the same price, I got a brand-new, three-bedroom, and there’s probably an extra 700 square feet.”

Anna Vozza, president of the Windsor-Essex County Real Estate Board, said she recently showed houses in the $200,000 range to a woman considering moving here from Oakville.

“She was amazed at what we looked at in terms of value,” said Vozza.

Another client was transferring to Windsor from Toronto, and the price range he originally gave her was simply too high. “He was shocked at what we found for $350,000, shocked,” said Vozza.

She said she doesn’t like to call Windsor’s housing the “cheapest,” instead calling it the best-valued real estate in the country.

The Coldwell Banker report cites Windsor’s struggling economy as the reason our prices are so low, but Vozza said housing prices have always been a great value here.

In four years, the average housing price has declined slightly, from around $165,000 in 2007 to $161,820 to date this year. And prices are rising in recent months, to $167,893 for August.

“We’re coming out of recession, slowly,” said Vozza.

A Lakeshore house like the one listed by Jerry Seguin and Russell Newman for $197,700 would sell for a half-million in many other Canadian markets, said Seguin.

In addition to four bedrooms this brick-to-roof Cape Cod has a bonus room, two baths and beach rights. It’s been on the market four or five months and the price has dropped from $229,000.

“I can’t believe it hasn’t sold yet, other than it’s between Stoney Point and St. Joachim,” said Seguin.

Newman, who specializes in waterfront properties, said in the last year or so people from Toronto and other Ontario cities have been coming down to look for a cheaper alternative to Muskoka cottages.

Americans who used to own waterfront have sold out, discouraged by border hassles and the exchange rate.

Newman said Toronto clients are shocked by the prices here.

“I just sold one for $380,000 that would have gone for three-quarters of a million in the Muskokas. They just can’t believe the prices.”

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

This summer will see a variety of events in Windsor, including the Red Bull Air Race World Series. This will be Windsor’s third year hosting the Red Bull Air Race, and each year the city sees a significant spike in Windsor tourism and Windsor travel, especially in downtown Windsor.

Windsor’s economy experienced a tremendous economic boost to the tune of approximately $100 million from last year’s Red Bull Air Races. The international exposure put the spotlight on Windsor, drawing in more than 290,000 people to watch the races in downtown Windsor last year while millions watched on television in 183 countries worldwide.

Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan estimates that the investment in the 2009 Red Bull Air Races yielded $7 to $8 in return per each dollar invested. The City of Windsor is preparing for even larger crowds this year and will definitely benefit from the spin-off jobs and opportunities the Red Bull Air Races 2010 presents.

While you’re here enjoying the Red Bull Air Races 2010, why not check out other Windsor attractions in the area like Windsor casino hotel, Caesars Windsor. There are other great hotels in Windsor close to Windsor bars and Windsor restaurants downtown as well.

The Red Bull Air Races 2009 proved highly successful, with the casino in Windsor and hotels in Windsor both packed. Visitors to the city for the Red Bull Air Race 2009 were able to relax and enjoy the show along the beautiful riverfront.

Be a part of the action on scene at the Air Race in Windsor instead of one of the millions just tuning in on television. The Red Bull Air Race Windsor occurs June 5 to June 6. Make your reservations at the Windsor casino or a hotel in Windsor today to ensure you’re able to enjoy Windsor events this summer such as the Red Bull Air Race 2010.

The average resale price of a home in Canada was $337,410 in December, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association. That was 19 per cent higher than in December, 2008, and sales activity has also increased sharply. The Windsor Ontario real estate market in January 2010 showed an average selling price of $155,819 for real estate in Windsor. This is down 1.7 per cent from January 2009 but total sales of Windsor and Essex County homes were up 54 per cent from January 2009 and 7 per cent above real estate in Windsor sales from January 2008. New Windsor real estate listings were flat in January compared to Windsor real estate MLS listings for January 2009 and 2008.
January was yet another reminder that the Canadian resale housing market is driving the economic recovery in Canada. Unfortunately Windsor and Essex County real estate has not seen the price prosperity in homes for sale in Windsor that is being experienced in other parts of Canada. Another area of economic growth is residential investment which has been one above average growth. The strength in residential construction has been supported by renovation activity – as homebuyers renovate their new purchases, and sellers attempt to add value to their homes before putting them on the market. This activity is evident in both Windsor homes for sale and Windsor condos for sale that have been fully updated or extensively renovated to either recapture lost value or to return a profit on undervalued real estate in Windsor.

Homebuilders have begun to responded favourably to strong housing demand, and in December housing starts rose for a third consecutive month – rising 5.9 per cent from month ago levels. At 174,000 units, housing starts are now up 47 per cent from the trough in April 2009. The strength in starts suggests new homebuilding likely grew in the range of 15-20 per cent in the last quarter of 2009 alone. Again in the local Windsor real estate market housing starts for January were up marginally from the same period in 2009 suggesting that the demand for Windsor and Essex county homes is mostly satisfied by Windsor MLS resale listings.

While the impact of housing demand on economic growth has been favourable, the strength in home prices has gained the attention of policy markers for a different reason. Canadian existing home prices have been heated, growing close to 20% Y/Y in Q4 2009. Not only have home prices retraced the losses that occurred over the very short-lived correction early last year, but they are now well above pre-recession (and historical) peaks. Again this is not the story of homes for sale in Windsor and MLS listing for Windsor and Essex County where average prices are flat to down for the same period.

Policy makers have noted that they are not currently worried about the level of home prices, and this is just one mechanism through which monetary policy is working to help support the economic recovery. But if this momentum continues, it may signal that a bubble is indeed forming and changes in lending policies may be necessary to avoid an overheated housing market. This would have a significant negative impact on the Windsor and Essex county real estate market and signal further declines in prices of homes for sale in Windsor.