![]() This means that the LRT is good for Waterloo Region as a whole. Although these productivity benefits are difficult to quantify, they can be large: just a few percent increase in property value, a few percent reduction of parking costs, or few percent increase in business productivity in a community and total hundreds of millions of dollars. ![]() Third, availably of transit also increases overall productivity by reducing total transportation costs for vehicles, parking and roads and providing a catalyst for more clustered development patterns that provide economies of conglomeration, which can reduce the costs of providing public services and increase productivity and improve accessibility and network effects. This means one area gains at the cost of another a sum zero gain. Second, there is an economic transfer that gives one location a relative advantage over other locations, attracting residential and commercial development that would otherwise occur elsewhere in the region. Some studies show being within 300 meters of a station can have a negative impact on property values. There will also be increased parking congestion near stations. There will be increased noise from the trains and increased pedestrian traffic which may reduce residential property values very close to transit stations or along the transit line. The LRT will affect property values in three somewhat different ways, one negative and two positive.įirst, the negative. I’ve also spent some time in Vancouver, visited several condo and townhouse sites along the Skytrain lines and saw again how a great public transportation system can impact neighborhoods. I base my assumption on the fact that I lived in Taipei during the construction and opening of the MRT and I witnessed firsthand how property values were impacted – my in-laws sold their home for much more than I could have imagined a few years before. I’ve been operating under the assumption that this huge addition to the Waterloo Region’s mass transit system will increase property values nearby. With the construction of the LRT, I recommend to all of my clients that they consider buying along the future LRT line. Not only do homes near good schools appreciate at a better than average rate in relation to homes in other neighbourhoods, school ranking is also correlated to crime rate (good school = low crime, bad school = high crime). I always advise my clients to buy a home in a good school zone (Rule #91). How will the LRT affect Kitchener Waterloo’s property values?
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