February market update: Another record-breaking month, but with an asterisk*

February was another record-breaking month for real estate in Kitchener/Waterloo.

Homes had an average sale price of just under a million dollars, at $988,141, up 6% from January. The biggest gains were made by condos, which saw a 7% increase in average sale price. That number for detached and attached homes also increased, by 5%.

The average sale price for detached homes last month was $1,195,458. For attached homes, it was $880,035 and for condos and apartments the figure was $573,343.

As predicted, there were more new listings and sales in February, compared to the month before. Clearly many sellers chose to take advantage of this hot market and list their properties at the start of the year.

Homes are still selling for well over list price; in fact, an astounding 96% of properties that sold, sold for over asking.

Those houses sold for 30% over the list price on average, which works out to about $228,000 for the average home. REALTORS® are also seeing a lot more pre-emptive “bully” offers; they are more common than ever these days.

“But these stats are deceiving,” cautions Greig Turvey, Sales Representative, GoWylde Team/ReMax, “because not every house that’s listed will sell. It’s easy to overlook the over 100 listings that were cancelled or expired during February, that may not have been re-listed and sold. We can’t just look at the properties that sell; we need to look at all the properties and track their outcome.”

In the first week of March, for example, over 55 listings were cancelled or expired. This indicates that many sellers aren’t getting the offers they hoped for—and some are not getting any offers at all, explains the agent.

“Even if there are only 2-3 offers on a property, buyers these days are generally still comfortable paying hundreds of thousands of dollars over the list price.”

March brings with it the official start of spring, which in years past is traditionally when the real estate market really takes off. It will be interesting to see how spring sales play out this year and if there is indeed a cooling in the works.

Stay up to date with the latest market trends in Kitchener and Waterloo with real estate agents Brad Wylde and Greig Turvey. Visit the GoWylde Team or call 519-826-7109 for more information.