It’s official: More homes have been sold this year in Kitchener, Waterloo and three surrounding townships than in any previous year – and there’s still a month to go.
According to the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, which also tracks home sales in Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich, 6,352 residential properties had changed hands as of Nov. 30.
The only other time more than 6,000 sales were recorded in a calendar year was in 2007, but the total that year fell short of 6,352.
There were 535 residential properties sold in the area in November – itself a record number and a significant increase over the 421 sales recorded in November 2015.
The median price of a home or condo sold in the area in November was $372,250, as compared to $314,500 the previous November.
Analysts have said that part of the reason for the sudden rise in local house prices is due to high demand and low supply.
If that’s the case, November’s numbers suggest the potential for even more extreme effects.
While demand for local real estate was at record levels, supply experienced a sharp fall.
The realtors’ association says there were 565 residential properties listed for sale at the end of November.
That number represents a decrease of more than 60 per cent from one year earlier, and a drop of 23 per cent from just the previous month.
