Despite high demand and low supply heating up Waterloo Region’s real estate market to levels never seen before, the growth in house prices is actually lagging behind the national average.
Real estate firm Royal LePage released its house price survey this week.
It shows that the aggregate price of a home in Waterloo Region rose by 5.6 per cent from the second quarter of 2015 to the second quarter of 2016, and now sits at $352,551.
By comparison, the aggregate national price jumped by 9.2 per cent over the same timeframe Canada-wide, hitting $520,223.
In a press release, local Royal LePage broker of record Keith Church said that the local numbers were being driven by people looking for bargains relative to housing prices in the Greater Toronto Area.
“There is a very pronounced shortage of listings, and it is now not uncommon for people listing well priced homes to receive 10 to 15 offers,” he said.
“It’s definitely a seller’s market right now, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
Waterloo Region’s year-over-year price growth rates were also behind those seen in other communities outside the Toronto area, including Milton, London, Niagara/St. Catharines, Hamilton and Windsor.
The highest gains in Waterloo were seen in two-storey homes (up 6.7 per cent), with bungalows (2.4 per cent) and condos (0.2 per cent) showing smaller increases in price.
Nationally, the numbers reported by Royal LePage are 10.7 per cent for two-storey homes, 7.9 per cent for bungalows and 4.2 per cent for condos.
The Royal LePage survey looks at data from 53 of Canada’s largest real estate markets.
