Bay of Quinte riding MP Neil Ellis. (Photo/Quinte News)
The federal member for the Bay of Quinte riding is predicting a good news business announcement soon.
MP Neil Ellis says the Quinte region economy has been booming and the fact that Statistics Canada now recognizes the Belleville region as a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is just a nice finishing touch.
He wouldn’t reveal details of the announcement.
In 2016, Statistics Canada made the Belleville area, including Belleville, Quinte West, Tyendinaga and Stirling-Rawdon, a CMA.
That means a CMA has a population of at least 100,000 and an urban core (could be made up of more than one core) of at least 50,000.
In the Belleville CMA, the core would consist of urban Belleville as well as Trenton in Quinte West.
The core must attract heavy traffic flows seven days a week.
There are now 35 Census Metropolitan Areas in Canada.
Jamie Troke. (Photo: / Quinte News)
Meanwhile, Jamie Troke, owner of Ekort Realty and a specialist in commercial/industrial real estate says statscan’s CMA designation is nothing but good news for the local economy.
“Large industrial/commercial/retail business only looks at CMAs when they consider expansion. Any other area just don’t make sense for them. The Quinte region is growing up, moving into another economic league.”
Meanwhile, on June 20 a Senior Analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation gave its latest report on the Belleville real estate market to a group of landlords.
The report says 2017 was a record year for home sales in the Belleville CMA with 3,434 units sold. House prices also soared 15.8%.
However, the report also says demand for homes is now dropping from the peak last year.
The report says rental vacancy rates were very low in 2017 at just 2.2%.
And, it notes that the spread between mortgage carrying costs and apartment rents is widening because of the rising home prices.
The report indicates the area is in need of more rental units, especially since most of the existing rental inventory was built between 1960 and 1979.
