KITCHENER -- Waterloo Region saw its lowest single-month home sales since December 2008 as the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on real estate.
Home sales dropped by 63.6 per cent in April compared to the same month last year, with only 227 residential homes sold through the Multiple Listing System.
"It goes without saying the current pandemic has had a major impact on the number of sales we would normally see in April,” says Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors President Colleen Koehler in a news release.
Total residential sales were broken down as follows, compared to April 2019:
- Detached homes – 145 sales (down 63.3 per cent)
- Condominium apartments – 22 sales (down 71.1 per cent)
- Townhouses – 44 sales (down 61.1 per cent)
- Semi-detached homes – 16 sales (down 60 per cent)
While total sales have dropped, house prices have not followed suit.
The average sale price of all properties sold last month increased 7.3 per cent compared to April of last year, rising to $568,738.
Average prices rose in each category, from a 0.4 per cent increase in the price of townhomes to a 13.3 per cent price increase in semi-detached homes.
Koehler says that most real estate agents are advising sellers to hold off until the province's state of emergency has been lifted.
She says that, despite the slowdown, she believes sales will rebound.
"It has been a strong sellers’ market for the past few years," she's quoted in part in the release, with more buyers competing for a scarce number of homes listed.
April saw a balanced sales-to-new-listings ratio at 54 per cent, a balance seen for "the first time in a long time."
The real estate industry is considered an essential service in the province.
