Homes in the Kitchener-Waterloo market were changing hands at near-record pace in September, according to the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors (KWAR).
The organization says 526 homes sold in the area last month, an increase of 17.7 per cent over September 2018.
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“This was the second strongest September for home sales we’ve had on record, and only the second time transactions exceeded 500 units in the month of September,” KWAR President Brian Santos said in a release.
This marks the highest number of homes sold in Kitchener-Waterloo since 2016.
There were 330 detached homes (up 20.4 per cent) sold last month along with 125 townhouses (up 34.4 per cent) and 33 semi-detached homes (up 10 per cent). The condo market lagged as there were only 38 which found new owners which was a 24 per cent decrease from a year earlier.
KWAR says the cost of owning a home also soared to new heights in September as the average price increased by 10.2 per cent year-over-year to $541,850.
Detached homes were up 7.1 per cent to $612,643 while the average cost of buying townhomes and semis each saw double digit increases of 16.3 per cent ($439,522) and 18.9 per cent ($459,588) respectively.
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The average price for a condo crept up at a slower pace as well as it rose at 3 per cent to $335,110.
The prices are likely buoyed by a lack of stock as there were only 811 new properties listed last month which is a decrease of 2.1 per cent from a year earlier.
“Tight supply is the new normal,” Santos said. “We’ve been tracking under two months of supply for over three years now, and this has put steady upward pressure on prices.”
On average, it took 22 days to shift a property in Kitchener-Waterloo last month, a decrease of three days from 2018.