The average home sale price in the Kitchener-Waterloo in February was 27.5 per cent higher than it was a year ago – and 10 per cent higher than it was just one month earlier.

According to the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, the average sale price of a local residential property last month was $463,355.

In January, it was $421,104. In February 2016, it was $363,286.

At 474, the total number of homes sold was up 4.6 per cent over February 2016. KWAR president James Craig says that increase would have been much larger if there had been more homes on the market.

A low number of homes being listed for sale has been cited as a persistent problem causing the sharp increases in sale prices over the past year.

There were 427 homes listed for sale through the KWAR system last month, down from 1,226 one year earlier.

When it comes to detached homes specifically, the average sale price in February was $549,691 – an increase of more than 30 per cent over one year earlier.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors looks after home sales in Kitchener, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich.