Sales slow as record listings hit Waterloo region real estate market

A slow month of September sales coupled with a high number of new listings has left the local real estate market with a hefty inventory of available homes, according to the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors.

“The number of homes sold last month was very close to last year’s decade-low for the month of September,” WRAR president Megan Bell stated.

“At the same time, we had a record number of new listings for the month of September.”

A total of 527 homes changed hands in September, according to the realtors, who say that this is down 0.2 per cent from last year but 27.1 per cent below the previous five-year average.

WRAR says that 1,400 new listings entered the market in September, which is more than double what was posted a year earlier and 30 per cent above the previous 10-year September average.

“There was a significant surge of new listings in September, resulting in the largest number of homes being on the market since March 2016,” Bell said.

“For buyers with the financing to be house hunting in September, they would have found more favourable conditions in terms of supply than we have seen in a while.”

At the end of the month, there were 1,448 homes still on the market which is also almost 50 per cent more than last September.

While there is more inventory, the average sales price did not see a significant change as it came in at $757,753. This was just 0.3 per cent less than August and 0.7 per cent less than September 2022.