October 2018 – Kitchener-Waterloo area home sales slip in September.

REALTORS® sold 448 homes through the Multiple Listing System (MLS® System) of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of REALTORS® (KWAR) in September.

This was a decrease of 4.7 per cent compared to September of last year.

On a year-to-date basis, 4,558 residential units have sold compared to 5,345 during the same period in 2017, a decrease of 14.7 per cent.

“The stress-test that came into force on all new mortgages at the beginning of the year has taken some of the steam out of home sales activity,” said KWAR President Tony Schmidt. “Meanwhile home prices continue to rise as inventory levels remain rather low.”

Residential sales in September included 270 detached (down 6.3 per cent compared to September 2017), and 110 condominium units (up 7.8 per cent) which includes any property regardless of style (i.e. semis, townhomes, apartment, detached etc.). Sales also included 30 semi-detached homes (down 18.9 per cent) and 30 freehold townhouses (down 18.9 per cent).

The average sale price of all residential properties sold in September increased 10 per cent to $492,398 compared to the same month a year ago. Detached homes sold for an average price of $574,653 an increase of 11.4 per cent compared to September of last year. During this same period, the average sale price for an apartment style condominium was $325,378 an increase of 24.1 per cent. Townhomes and semis sold for an average of $377,442 (up 4.7 per cent) and $386,670 (up 4.1 per cent) respectively.

The median price of all residential properties sold last month was up 10.5 per cent compared to September of last year at $453,000, and the median price of a detached home during the same period increased 8.8 per cent to $520,000.

REALTORS® listed 824 residential properties in K-W and area in last month, a 10 per cent increase compared to September of last year, and 9 per cent above the historical ten-year average of 755. The number of active residential listings on the KWAR’s MLS® System to the end of September totalled 1,005, which is 18.2 per cent higher than September of last year but 522 units short of the previous ten-year average of 1,527 listings for September.

“While the mortgage stress was intended to prevent homebuyers in overheated markets like Vancouver and Toronto from borrowing more than they could afford, it has had the unintended consequence of putting the goal of owning a home further out of reach for buyers across all housing markets, including in Waterloo region. This is particularly impactful for first-time homebuyers where every penny counts.”

Schmidt notes that earlier this week he was in Ottawa with over 300 REALTORS® from across Canada to ask all levels of government to take regional differences into consideration before implementing nation-wide measures that impact homeownership.