Waterloo Region’s hot housing market is drawing attention at the national level, with one significant report suggesting rapid price increases will continue through 2017.
Re/Max released its 2017 housing market outlook on Thursday.
It forecasts Hamilton seeing the higher residential sale price increases in Canada next year, at 11 per cent – followed by Waterloo Region and the Greater Toronto Area at eight per cent.
That increase would put the region’s average sale price at $413,313.
“Inventory levels are expected to increase in 2017 with some new developments coming to market, however 2017 is expected to stay a seller’s market,” the report reads.
The report points to multiple factors driving the boom, including buyers from the GTA moving westward, economic growth buoyed by the tech sector and LRT construction, and strong interest from first-time homebuyers.
On that last point, Re/Max suggests things might not be quite so rosy in 2017 due to new mortgage rules that may leave some prospective first-time buyers waiting a little bit long.
The report also identifies New Hamburg and Baden as being “increasing popular with move-up buyers and retirees,” and suggests that apartments and condos build in Waterloo for students could be opened up to the general population due to oversupply.
Re/Max estimates that Waterloo Region’s residential sale prices rose by 10 per cent from 2015 to 2016 – less than any measured markets in British Columbia, Windsor or the Golden Horseshoe, but more than anywhere else in the country.
In many cases, they say, sellers received multiple offers – sometimes even before actually listing their home for sale.
And while sale prices are rising to heretofore unseen levels, so too is the number of homes being sold in the area.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors reported last week that 6,352 residential properties had been sold through its system as of Nov. 30 – more than in any full year ever.
