The housing market remained fairly quiet in the area last month, according to the Waterloo Regional Association of Realtors.
“Homes sales in the Waterloo Region were up over last October’s record low but are still subdued,” WRAR president Megan Bell said.
“I breathed a sigh of relief last week when the Bank of Canada held its policy rate at five per cent, and I will be watching to see what the Bank of Canada does at their next scheduled announcement on Dec. 6.”
A total of 559 houses changed hands in October, which is up 12.2 per cent from a year earlier but down 24.4 per cent from the previous five-year average.
The average cost of buying a home in the area remained fairly stable for the second straight month at $767,848, which is only a .1 per cent increase over September, when the average sales price was $757,753.
There were also 1,133 new listings last month, which is 36 per cent above 2022, according to WRAR.
“While sales are down, we are seeing an increase in the number of homes available for sale, which is good news for buyers,” Bell said.
“However, many prospective buyers have been sidelined by higher borrowing costs and selling prices that continue to demonstrate resilience.”
As October came to a close, Realtors say there were still 1,408 homes on the market, which is 40 less than September’s end, which would have been the heart of the fall market.
That total for the end of October is 53.4 per cent above where things stood a year earlier.
The Realtors say there was 2.5 months of inventory at the end of October, which is up 92.3 per cent year over year. The number of months’ inventory represents how long it would take for all of the inventory to be sold at the current sales rate.
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