Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Market Report

July 2018 Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Market Report

The KW Real Estate picture in July stayed the course. We continue to see the average price of homes increase versus last year; pushed up by competition for homes under $600,000, while we see sales slow. Oh, the irony! The intention of a lot of the implemented Real Estate cooling measures was to make home ownership more affordable – and we watch as affordable homes appreciate the fastest as demand has been concentrated into the lower price range.

Those who would like to move up and buy a more expensive home cannot, so they stay in their homes which constricts supply. Those looking to downsize from their medium price range homes cannot because prices for smaller homes are rising so quickly that it shrinks the financial incentive of downsizing. And forget about selling and renting; the typical rental property has also appreciated quickly meaning new Landlords (and existing Landlords capitalizing on higher market rents) need to increase their rents to cover monthly carrying costs – which again causes those looking to sell to think again as the cost to rent is greater than the cost to retain an existing home.

Sales in July were down 16.8% versus last month and down 10.6% versus the same month last year. Total sales YTD are down 18%.

This is how July Sales looked:

Detached homes              282        Down 23.4%

Condos                               130        Up 14%

Semi-detached                  53           Up 35.9%

Townhouses                      35           Down 5.4%

The average home price in July was $480,145. This is a 5.5% increase versus July 2017.

Here’s how July Average home prices broke down:

Detached                            $584,337             Up 12.4%

Apt. Condos                       $292,714             Up 4.3%

Townhouses                      $359,278             Up 2.2%

Semi-detached                  $387,664             Up 9.8%

The median price of all Real Estate transactions is up 7.1% to $443,700 with detached homes doing a lot of the heavy lifting with the median detached price rising to $530,000 representing a 12.8% increase.

The big picture looks great. If nothing else, this is a very nice looking graph:

When tracking the average home price month by month we are seeing prices in 2018 stay very steady. I think this is very good for confidence and the 2018 trend line is nice and stable.

In conclusion:

It is a great time to sell your $400k to $600k home and a great time to buy a Million dollar house 😊

Happy August Peeps!