10 of Canada's Hottest Neighbourhoods to Call Home

[LikeHamilton]

10 of Canada's Hottest Neighbourhoods to Call Home, Copyright ©2015 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Huffington Post Living Canada, December 29, 2015

10 of Canada's Hottest Neighbourhoods to Call Home

Kensington Market (Toronto, Ontario):

The Junction (Toronto, Ontario):

Parkdale (Toronto, Ontario):

Downtown Victoria (British Columbia):

Gage Park (Hamilton, Ontario):

It seems to still be a trade secret, but as Toronto's downtown continues to fill with lawyers and financiers, many young cosmopolites have slowly been making the move to Hamilton's Gage Park. Migrating westward along the lakeshore, artists, educators and young professionals are discovering that post-industrial Hamilton's uptown core is fast becoming one of Ontario's top urban settlements.

Byward Market (Ottawa, Ontario):

The Plateau (Montreal, Quebec):

Commercial Drive (Vancouver, British Columbia):

Osborne Village (Winnipeg, Manitoba):

North End (Halifax, Nova Scotia):

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/the-ren...cahpmg00000001

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

Gage Park (Hamilton, Ontario):

It seems to still be a trade secret, but as Toronto's downtown continues to fill with lawyers and financiers, many young cosmopolites have slowly been making the move to Hamilton's Gage Park. Migrating westward along the lakeshore, artists, educators and young professionals are discovering that post-industrial Hamilton's uptown core is fast becoming one of Ontario's top urban settlements.

Sigh..southward, not "westward." Or at least, "to the southwest." I guess Torontonians don't have a clue because south is always the lake, and because the QEW starts out parallel to King, Queen and Dundas, and the signs say "QEW West." Still, they should look at a map sometime.

If Toronto is to the east of Hamilton, where is St. Catharines in relation to Hamilton then? South?

And what is the "uptown core"? Where did that come from? And what is the Gage Park neighbourhood anyway? West of the park or east of it?

Harrumph.

[HillStreetBlues]

Yeah, it would have been nice if they could have done enough research for an "article" entitled "Canada's Hottest Neighbourhoods" to find the name of an actual neighbourhood. "Gage Park" is not a neighbourhood. Maybe they mean Crown Point, or the Delta, but I bet more likely it's East Hamilton or maybe even Lower City Hamilton. Idiots.

This is the fist time I ever heard of an "Uptown" Hamilton. Is that supposed to be James North?

[thmx]

Originally Posted by HillStreetBlues

This is the fist time I ever heard of an "Uptown" Hamilton. Is that supposed to be James North?

I know quite a few people that call the Concession Street area, or the whole upper city, "Uptown". I always have. The writer of the article probably meant to say "Downtown Core", but mistook Downtown for Uptown because Downtown is closer to the north end of the city, making it the upper part of the city on a map.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Interesting.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to any part of Hamilton as 'upper' this or 'uptown' or anything of the sort. I have, on occasion, called James South 'uptown' but more as a joke than anything else. I'm not a Mountainite, however, so I may have missed this dubbing somewhere along the way...

[matt602]

I've heard some people refer to areas of the South mountain as "uptown" but not often. Definitely not anywhere near Gage Park though, thats more commonly central or East end.

[thistleclub]

"Forward-thinking and forward-moving urbanites and millennials looking to score the right balance between architectural beauty, 21st Century artistic and cultural relevance, consumer amenities and urban chic have fantastic options to choose from to call home in Canada. So, our team here at RentSeeker.ca has decided to list 10 of Canada's hottest neighbourhoods to call home."

CMHC’s Rental Market Reports classify Gage Park as Central East.

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Central East (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 5.6%
2012: 5.1%
2013: 5.9%
2014: 5.2%
2015: 3.6%

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Central (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 4.5%
2012: 4.8%
2013: 6.1%
2014: 3.6%
2015: 5.0%

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Downtown (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 4.0%
2012: 4.6%
2013: 3.8%
2014: 3.0%
2015: 4.1%

[rousseau]

To chime in: interesting. I've never heard the word "uptown" to refer to anything in Hamilton in my life, and I even lived on the west mountain for several years. This is purely anecdotal, of course, and it's entirely possible that I haven't heard lots of things that people regularly say in Hamilton.

One thing I rather like is how some people say "going up the hill" to mean going up the mountain. It's a counterintuitive of a counterintuitive (meta on the meta), because people outside of Hamilton are confused and then bemused at us calling it a "mountain," and would naturally be inclined to say "going up the hill" (or escarpment), but once you're in Hamilton it is utterly conventional and widespread, and you don't think twice about saying it.

[ScreamingViking]

Maybe "The RentSeeker.ca Team" is actually trying to promote living in the park. Has city council been discussing the possibility of tree-houses and Hobbit-holes in camera?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by rousseau

and the signs say "QEW West."

QEW signs are based on place names not direction, though traffic reporters are apt to say westbound/eastbound and such.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by rousseau

To chime in: interesting. I've never heard the word "uptown" to refer to anything in Hamilton in my life, and I even lived on the west mountain for several years. This is purely anecdotal, of course, and it's entirely possible that I haven't heard lots of things that people regularly say in Hamilton.

One thing I rather like is how some people say "going up the hill" to mean going up the mountain. It's a counterintuitive of a counterintuitive (meta on the meta), because people outside of Hamilton are confused and then bemused at us calling it a "mountain," and would naturally be inclined to say "going up the hill" (or escarpment), but once you're in Hamilton it is utterly conventional and widespread, and you don't think twice about saying it.

I was watching the Weather Network recently and they lady said Hamilton Mountain, so the term is spreading. She was referring to the freezing rain in Hamilton Mountain area.

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

"Forward-thinking and forward-moving urbanites and millennials looking to score the right balance between architectural beauty, 21st Century artistic and cultural relevance, consumer amenities and urban chic have fantastic options to choose from to call home in Canada. So, our team here at RentSeeker.ca has decided to list 10 of Canada's hottest neighbourhoods to call home."

CMHC’s Rental Market Reports classify Gage Park as Central East.

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Central East (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 5.6%
2012: 5.1%
2013: 5.9%
2014: 5.2%
2015: 3.6%

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Central (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 4.5%
2012: 4.8%
2013: 6.1%
2014: 3.6%
2015: 5.0%

Apartment Vacancy Rate, Downtown (Hamilton CMA)
2011: 4.0%
2012: 4.6%
2013: 3.8%
2014: 3.0%
2015: 4.1%

Seems weird that the vacancy rates bumped up in 2015 versus 2014. Not what I've heard anecdotally, but maybe it has to do with how apartments get counted.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

I was watching the Weather Network recently and they lady said Hamilton Mountain, so the term is spreading. She was referring to the freezing rain in Hamilton Mountain area.

Well that's the official name of the riding. Maybe the recent election had them thinking about the name still?

[flar]

I always thought that area had potential. Beautiful, large, well-built homes on tree lined streets, right in the middle of the city. Must look very attractive to upper-middle class people who can't have what they want in Toronto.

[mdrejhon]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

10 of Canada's Hottest Neighbourhoods to Call Home, Copyright ©2015 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Huffington Post Living Canada, December 29, 2015

[...snip...]

Gage Park (Hamilton, Ontario):

It seems to still be a trade secret, but as Toronto's downtown continues to fill with lawyers and financiers, many young cosmopolites have slowly been making the move to Hamilton's Gage Park. Migrating westward along the lakeshore, artists, educators and young professionals are discovering that post-industrial Hamilton's uptown core is fast becoming one of Ontario's top urban settlements.

For deeper reading, it's interesting to read CRUNCH McMaster University's 2015 follow-up report on Stipley Neighborhood -- Hamilton Neighborhoods Study -- The Sherman Hub (which people say has one of the best community newspapers in Ontario). The Sherman Hub area is very close to Gage Park (walking distance).

PDF: https://crunch.mcmaster.ca/documents...rtFINALweb.pdf

I wonder if this is related...





Practically every single metric is improving. It's not flawless, of course: Opportunistic theft (e.g. loose items on front lawns) is perpetually high, and Hamilton has always been known to be tough, the poverty especially north of King especially at Barton, etc...

...but all indications are things (--on average at least--) are getting better than before.

With the boom of cafes opening (in the last 2 years alone, over 4 has opened within 10-15min walking distance), such as 541 Cafe, Vintage Roasters, Cannon Coffee, Timmy Museum (the only Timmys with a fireplace/sofa lounge), and a bunch of places on rapidly-revitalizing Ottawa Street, and the now-funded Hamilton LRT, and even an unexpectedly-successful bikeshare system that extends downtown all the way to Gage Park, the general vibe is things are improving, though some concerns about poverty and the welfare of our poor friends persist, amongst other things. There's elephants in the room (1-way urban expressways of Main and King, as well as Barton), but step 1-2 blocks south of King you see absolutely beautiful neighborhoods. Even North neighborhoods are improving as well, near Gage.

There is still stretches of shuttered storefronts, but you see a number of great businesses punching openings in them nowadays (like Vintage Roasters, Limin' Coconut, The Kitchen Collective, 541 Cafe, four-to-five-star businesses within a stone's throw of a nearby shuttered storefront) and the general perception is that the empty storefronts won't be around beyond the end of this decade. If ugly early 90s James St N is any indication when it was a wide 1-way urban expressway with shuttered storefronts. And let's face it, despite the stadium wrangling mess, and PanAm flash-in-the-pan stuff, a mere 10 minutes WALK away from Gage Park is now a nice new upgraded new stadium of one of Canada's best attended football team (every TiCats game a sellout so far). Take the earlier stadium debate boondoggle as one may, it's there, it's popular, and (on average) an overall large upgrade (to most). A brand new school is planned to be built right nearby as well, with state of art facilities (and it's also happen to be a major planned LRT station area as well).

Now knowing the appearance of wider sidewalks/sidewalk trees/curb bumpouts in the Hamilton LRT plan templates, TheHuffingtonPost is really spot-on as being one of the 10 hottest neighborhoods. Especially if you were daring to move here while there were formerly far more prostitutes and far more less-reputable tattoo parlors (Nowadays they have to fancy up or sell out.

Obviously, Nearby Barton (and a popular stadium parking area, a common bad impression for visiting Torontoians) -- is still a major problem spot but even that is showing potential -- on a decadal basis -- see: 541 Cafe, a place so vastly an outlier of a success compared to its surroundings.

There is a lot of errors in the HuffingtonPost article, as if it is written by an outsider, but there seemed to be enough research, that it was a relatively decent judgement of a hot neighborhood, given Hamilton's rocketing real estate values (while super-expensive by Hamilton standards, very cheap by Toronto standards and Toronto's proximity). If you had to narrow down to a specific Hamilton neighborhood, that was a really good choice, given the boat is now missed on Locke (property prices already high), but the Gage-area bandwagon, in my opinion, hasn't yet fully passed.

It's all in flux obviously, but many areas of Hamilton still had never been as dangerous as pre-revitalization Toronto Regent Park, nor other difficult areas of Toronto that has a far higher crime rate. It is certainly all relative when you look at it by an area-by-area basis, and areas surrounding Gage Park (e.g. southern Sherman Hub) has been a hot ticket with 3-to-4 bedroom fully detacheds still going for the prices of a Toronto downtown 2-bedroom condo cube.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by mdrejhon

There is a lot of errors in the HuffingtonPost article, as if it is written by an outsider, but there seemed to be enough research, that it was a relatively decent judgement of a hot neighborhood, given Hamilton's rocketing real estate values (while super-expensive by Hamilton standards, very cheap by Toronto standards and Toronto's proximity). If you had to narrow down to a specific Hamilton neighborhood, that was a really good choice, given the boat is now missed on Locke (property prices already high), but the Gage-area bandwagon, in my opinion, hasn't yet fully passed.

The irony is that RentSeekers.ca's Top 10 is ostensibly intended as a service for those seeking to rent, while their "Hot Neighbourhoods" tip is being held up as advice to real estate investors, not to prospective renters. The Delta area has long been affordable to buyers and renters, but the dramatic 30% contraction in vacancy rates between 2014 and 2015 suggests that may not be the case for the latter much longer. CMHC stats show that over the past five years, Central East has gone from the highest vacancy rates in the Hamilton CMA to the third lowest. There's the heat.