As we round the corner from June into July and the summer holiday season gets well and truly underway, tradition dictates a seasonal slow-down in real estate markets. At least, that’s how things have usually unfolded along historical lines. But with an anything-but-normal past 18 months, are any of us out there really surprised by this point that sale volumes and prices continue to defy expectations?
According to KWAR (The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors), the single most important factor at play in keeping resale prices sky high in KW remains our chronic lack of inventory. Demand for housing in our region has never been higher, and there simply isn’t enough turnover in established neighborhoods nor adequate volume in new housing starts to keep up. This reality is most concisely reflected in the average number of days a property is taking to sell in our current market – only 11, according to the most recent stats released by KWAR earlier this week.
This average is down by nearly a week since June of last year alone, and even further below the five-year average of 20 days. In scenarios which are by now all too familiar to a frustrated pool of prospective buyers, the desirable homes which are coming available are still being snapped up in multiple offers and often well over asking. While the frenzied activity and monumental increases in average sale prices of the first few months of the year have finally settled somewhat, the reality of a market which is heavily tilted in favour of sellers remains firmly with us. So, with that in mind, let’s have a closer look at June’s most recent numbers.
Here in Kitchener-Waterloo, the average sale price of all residential properties stands at $759,115 – up by more than 2.5% since May, and an increase of 26.4% over last year’s average. The bulk of this momentum is made up by particularly strong numbers in the traditional single-detached segment, with an average sale price of nearly $920,000 – an increase of 5.9% since last month alone and a whopping 31.9% since the same time last year. Within the single detached market, the sub-segment of properties priced over $1M has seemed especially energized of late, which is perhaps not too shocking given recent price increases in available inventory across the board. But this has had the effect of keeping overall average sale prices high in our market despite more pronounced stabilizations in the condo and semi-detached/townhome segments.
Semi-detached properties sold at an average of $647,918 this June, which settled by 1.8% since May but remains up by a very substantial 28.3% over last year’s average. Similarly, townhomes fetched an average of $590,980 last month, down by 1.9% since May but up by nearly 30% since last year. Finally, apartment style condominiums continued to benefit from a buyer pool who has seen themselves priced out of more traditional styles of housing – while down by 2.3% since last month, the average sale price of a condo unit in KW was still up by over 19% since last year. That number now stands at $445,493.
Meanwhile, total numbers of both new listings and sales remained strong in June, standing at 860 and 740, respectively. While that might seem like a healthy amount of new inventory coming online (and historically it is), it remains inadequate to the task of meeting buyer demand as we’ve already discussed. As always, should you have any questions about your own home, are looking to get into the market for the first time, or are just curious about where I see things going in the next few months, just give me a call or an email! I’m happy to help you out.
