Hot housing market in K-W matched hot temperatures in July, realtors say

Home sales and prices in Kitchener-Waterloo were up in July by more than 15 per cent relative to the same time last year, according to numbers from the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors.

"It's like hot weather and hot market," KWAR president Brian Santos said. 

"Typically speaking, our summer's usually a little bit more quiet, but it's been a really, really busy and active market."

Overall, 586 residential properties were sold in July, for an increase of 15.1 per cent relative to July 2018.

Sales numbers in July varied by property type, which Santos said is because of increasing demand for homes at a price point of under $600,000.

Townhouse sales were up by 45.1 per cent and detached home sales were up by 16.4 per cent.

In comparison, condominium sales were down by 6.1 per cent and sales of semi-detached homes were down by 22.2 per cent.

"Demand continues to be really, really high and supply is low," Santos said, noting that KWAR typically has about 1,500 listings at a time, but that right now they have just over 800.

"So just over half our typical inventory levels, and I think that's really driving the market," he said.

Home prices climbing

Homebuyers in Kitchener-Waterloo can expect to pay more than they did last year, no matter what kind of property they're in the market for.

The average sale price of a home in Kitchener-Waterloo rose to $521,101 this month, an increase of to 9.3 per cent compared to July 2018.

The steepest price hikes were for townhouses — which sold for an average of $414,062, up 17 per cent over last year — and apartment-style condos, which sold at an average of $339,137, up 15.9 per cent.

Semi-detached homes sold at an average $434,136, up 11.9 per cent over last year. 

Detached homes, the most expensive property category of all, sold at an average $613,244, up 5.4 per cent over last year.

Santos said rising demand and rising prices are a natural consequence of increasing demand for homes in Kitchener-Waterloo, especially as more buyers move to the region from the Toronto area.

"More and more people are choosing it as a place to live, and there's just not a lot of inventory out there in the market, so I think that's what's really driving these prices upwards," he said, noting that buyers he works with often compete with multiple offers. 

The association's "month's supply of homes for sale" figure stood at 1.7 months in July, 15 per cent lower than the same period last year.

That means if no new homes were to hit the market, inventory would run out in a period of 1.7 months, Santos said.