August market update: Are we nearing the bottom?

As Summer finally draws to a close, the latest real estate statistics from the month of August are showing signs of promise. Is there finally some light at the end of the tunnel?

“While prices are still down in all housing categories, I’m getting optimistic that the market is close to the bottom,” says Greig Turvey, Sales Representative, GoWylde Team/ReMax.

In Kitchener/Waterloo, the average sale price ($723,788) is down 3% from July 2022, and that difference seems to get smaller and smaller with each passing month. Condos ($475,515) were down 9%, while detached ($833,426) and attached housing ($631,983) were only down 2%.

The number of sales increased by 15% from July to August 2022, which is not what you would typically see at the end of the Summer.

The average amount of active inventory also fell by 20%. “For the first time since the peak in the winter, months of inventory is down—and by 30%, which is pretty significant,” says Turvey.

The good news isn’t limited to just the Kitchener/Waterloo area either. In fact, there is even more encouraging news coming out of some of the surrounding markets: the average sale price in Toronto, for example, increased by 0.4%, in Guelph it decreased by only 1.5%, and in Cambridge it increased by 5.5%. 

Says Turvey, “September is always a time when new buyers flood the market. This year especially, as prices continued to fall, people put off their house hunting until after the Summer, and we will soon find out if people are finally deciding to get back into the market.”

Of course, no discussion of real estate right now would be complete without mentioning interest rates. They were increased by 75 basis points on September 7. “This is a large increase, but it was expected,” says the REALTOR®. “There aren’t any more large increases expected in the near future, so that should also help prices to stabilize.”

The signs are indeed positive, and we’ll be watching to see how early Fall unfolds.

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.