In the face of lower than low inventory, and high buyer demand the number of home sales in February according to KWAR (Kitchener Waterloo Association of Realtors) was 4.2% higher than it was a year ago. We would have had a lot more sales if there were more houses for sale but what we had instead was price inflation. The average sale price in February was 27.5% higher than February 2016.
The average prices
Detached homes sold for $549,691
Townhouses: $388,721
Semi-detached: $369,624
Apartment style condos: $246,736
Active listings
There were only 427 active listings on our local board’s MLS compared to 1226 a year ago.
DOM
The average days on the market was 18 days compared to 39 days a year ago.
Rates and sticky prices
Interest rates are set to rise in mid-March. But prices are sticky. That means although prices may go up quickly, the stick for a long time to the higher price before creeping down again. According to economists, if we get a correction that will likely be a 5% to 15% price decline over the course of a few months, not bad, but not much in the face of an 30% rise over the past year.
