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House prices in Kitchener and Waterloo jumped almost 13 per cent in January due to a buying spree by move-up buyers.

The average sale price hit $315,932 last month, up 12.9 per cent from $279,957 a year earlier. The average price for detached homes increased 14.5 per cent, to $361,470.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors said the increased activity by move-up buyers put upward pressure on the average sale price.

Patrick Carroll beamed under the beams he helped raise.

This new home on Gravel Ridge Trail has the finger prints of the Cambridge teen in a red Dr Pepper T-shirt and a dozen other St. Benedict high school students all over it.

It’s the completed class project in Community Home Building 101.

“This is definitely better than sitting in class” said the Grade 12 student.

“How many kids get to say they built a house?”

Well, 13 boys can say so this year.

The contentious 700-home Limerick Subdivision twisted city councillors in political knots again Monday — and changed nothing.

Sept. 12, council approved the subdivision over the objections of residents of homes along the country road. Council did, however, amend its motion to include a gate across the road to stop traffic from the new homes using the old road.

More condominium units can start construction sooner in the former American Standard factory in Hespeler.

Waterloo developer Shawky Fahel already had a sewage treatment allocation for 125 of the 200 apartments approved in the former factory at 19 Guelph Ave. The remaining 75 in the Riverbank Lofts were on hold until expansion of the Hespeler waste water treatment plant in 2016.

Gramtrust Holdings got the city council approval it wanted for a 700-home subdivision along Limerick Road last week, but appealed the issue to the Ontario Municipal Board anyway.

While unusual to appeal a win, it’s necessary because of the cumbersome city-region approval system in place in Waterloo Region, said Paul Britton, Gramtrust’s planner.

“It’s to get to the end of the process as quickly as possible,” he said.

City hall won’t budge on plans for the construction of more than 700 homes surrounding Dale Lonsbury’s rural house.

“In my opinion, our treatment from the planning staff in Cambridge has been nothing short of horrendous,” Lonsbury said.

He’s opposed to a proposed subdivision plan by Gramtrust Holdings along both sides of Limerick Road, between Fountain Street and Highway 401 along the Grand River. It’s immediately west of the Preston Heights subdivision.

The grand opening of a $30-million condominium tower the Grand River — literally — started with a bang Saturday morning.

Demolition crews smashed down an old, brick building beside the Waterscape tower on Water Street North. Dignitaries and guests arrive for a 1:30 p.m. ribbon cutting next door at the 12-storey, 115-unit building, said Paul de Haas, who developed the project.

For anyone looking to buy a new home in the Chicopee area of Kitchener, the Fairway Road extension and bridge to Cambridge is progressing along nicely.  According to the Region, the bridge is scheduled to open next year.

Plans for upscale homes tucked around a landmark stone building go to a neighbourhood meeting Wednesday.

Stratford investors last week purchased what’s commonly called The Dobbie House at 45 Blair Rd. They want to revive a 13-townhouse plan for the site, approved by the Ontario Municipal Board in 2000 after neighourbood opposition.

Terry Finlay intends to sever the 27-room stone mansion from the 1.3 hectare (3.3-acre) property overlooking the Grand River, restore it and move in with his wife and young child.

More homes squeezed into new subdivisions, secondary apartments in single-family homes and “intensification” within long-established neighbourhoods are all proposed in the city’s new official plan.

“I would say it’s a significant change — it’s an opportunity to be progressive,” said Elaine Brunn Shaw, Cambridge’s policy planning director.

“Land needs to be used more efficiently. We’re trying to provide more options where people can work and chose to live.”