Hello. It’s been a while.
There was a time when this real estate blog generated a lot of interest, a lot of business, new clients, sales.
But time moves on. Things change. Blogging to success had its moment, but now that moment is long past.
I only keep this blog alive and post from time to time now so that old clients who are taking the time to look me up, find me alive and well and still working as a real estate agent.
I have not retired, though I would like to and will someday soon I hope.
So, Yes I am here. I am alive. I can help you make sense of the factors impacting our local real estate market. At last count, there were more than 30 inputs plugged into my steampunk calculator. So don’t hesitate to ask where I think we are headed this year and next with our Kitchener-Waterloo real estate market. (Predictions more longer than that become more and more dubious.)
In terms of predictions, I’ve reviewed my past performance and I think I am an excellent predictor of things that can be based on past information. I, like most predictors missed the pandemic and the chaos that followed.
But all that is over now. Now we are back to looking at interest rates, inflation and the economy in general to indicate when might be the best time to sell and/or to buy.
How’s the market?
In February 2024, the Waterloo Region real estate market experienced a notable uptick with 485 homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System of the Waterloo Region Association of REALTORS® (WRAR), indicating a significant 9.7% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. Despite this improvement, home sales remained sluggish, lingering below historical norms for February.
Breaking down the residential sales, the data revealed 281 detached homes (a 9.3% increase from February 2023), 110 townhouses (a 10.0% increase), 73 condominium units (a substantial 30.4% surge), and 24 semi-detached homes (experiencing a 14.3% decline).
Examining average sale prices for February, the overall residential property average in the Waterloo Region was $755,934, reflecting a slight 0.7% decrease compared to February 2023 and a similar decrease from January 2024. Detached homes had an average sale price of $889,280, showing a 0.5% increase from the previous year but a 2.2% decrease from January 2024. Townhouses averaged $629,734, down by 2.2% from February 2023 and 1.8% from January 2024. Apartment-style condominiums posted an average sale price of $459,455, marking a 0.2% increase from February 2023 and a more significant 3.1% rise from January 2024. Semi-detached homes had an average sale price of $673,638, showing a 1.0% increase compared to February 2023 and a notable 4.2% increase from January 2024.
The addition of 800 new listings in February (an 18.7% increase from the previous year) contributed to a growing inventory, reaching 943 homes for sale at the end of February (a 38.9% increase compared to the previous year). However, this inventory figure was 2.9% below the previous ten-year average for February.
The months of inventory metric, indicating how long it would take to sell current inventories at the current sales rate, stood at 1.7 months at the end of February. This marked a substantial 54.5% increase compared to the previous year and a notable 17.2% above the previous ten-year average.
In terms of speed, the average number of days to sell a property in February was 23, compared to 20 days in February 2023 and a previous 5-year average of 16 days.
