The president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors (KWAR) says that the winter storms in February were a major factor in a stalled housing market.
“The series of winter storms in February not only kept buyers indoors and off the roads, but also away from open houses and viewings,” Brian Santos said in a statement.
Only 343 homes changed hands in February, a year-over-year decrease of 8.3 per cent, according to numbers released by KWAR.
READ MORE: Home sales on the rise in Kitchener-Waterloo in January
“This was the lowest amount of sales we’ve seen in February in a long time, but it really isn’t surprising given the wild weather we experienced last month,” Santos said.
The lower sales totals were not restricted to one type of house as detached sales were down 14.9 per cent (178 sold), condos fell 11 per cent (105), semis were off eight per cent (23) and townhouses were down a whopping 112 per cent (36).
While the sales totals were down, the cost of buying a home still saw a slight increase when compared with a year earlier.
READ MORE: $2.8 billion worth of residential real estate sold in Kitchener-Waterloo in 2018
On average, it cost $490,668 to buy a home in Kitchener-Waterloo, a three per cent increase from February 2018.
Detached homes went for an average price of $597,965 an increase of 3.9 per cent year over year. Condos continued to skyrocket as the average price was up 20.5 per cent to $319,536.
Townhomes and semis were also up to $395,331 (up 2.6 per cent) and $448,123 (up 14.4 per cent) respectively.