Home sales remain slow in Waterloo Region but prices climb, realtors say

Home sales remained slow in March in the area but prices have begun to creep back up, according to the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors.

The realtors said the average sale price had risen to $779,017 last month, which is a jump of 2.4 per cent over a month earlier.

While prices ticked up, they still remain well below the market’s peak in February 2022, when the average sale price came in at $1,007,109. The number was dropping monthly for most of the rest of 2022 but appears to have settled over the first few months of 2023.

The price of buying a detached home rose to $910,152, which is up 2.9 per cent from February but down close to 20 per cent from a year earlier.

A release from WRAR also notes that there were just 611 homes sold across Waterloo Region in March, which is traditionally the beginning of the spring real estate market.

5:49 Spring real estate forecast

This is down 38.4 per cent from a year earlier and 33.4 per cent below the previous five-year average volume.

“Sales activity was well below average in March, and while the number of homes sold is down, sale prices have increased modestly month over month,” WRAR president Megan Bell stated.

“With borrowing costs stabilizing and lenders promoting more appealing rates, I think we will see more buyers coming off the sidelines this spring, adding demand to our already popular Waterloo Region and pushing home prices up slightly.”

While the number of sales has remained slow, there is also a lack of new listings being placed on the market, which could also be a factor in slow sales.

The realtors say there were 859 new home listings in March, which is down 44.1 per cent year over year, while there were still 716 homes left on the market as the month closed. This is up 17 per cent from March 2022 but 42.4 per cent below the previous 10-year average.

“This is a peculiar market. While we certainly will not have the same volume of sales as in 2022, demand remains strong,” Bell said.