The State of the Market: August 2023

For all of you analytically minded people out there, this week is for you. With rate changes and constantly evolving market dynamics there’s no better time to be keeping a close eye on the market. This week, we’re providing a quick review of the latest intel and what’s happening across the local market right now and how it compares to where we were at during the same time last year.

Current Supply across the Market

373 active condo listings vs. 312 during the same time last year

So what? The year started off with 2-3x more supply on the market than the previous year across the local condo market and residential market overall. The spring, more specifically April through June showed the opposite effect with fewer listings active on the market than in 2022. As we went through June we started to see signs of more supply on the condo market and we’re starting to see the same across the market overall in the first weeks of August. Additional supply will open up more options for buyers who are active in the market and create more competition among sellers across the local resale market.

Sale Prices vs. Asking Prices

101.3% for condos, 103.2% for the market overall so far this month.

So what? While the sale price to original price ratio has come down significantly from nearly 109% in May for the local residential market as whole, the condo market has remained much more stable and predictable in this regard over the past number of months, gravitating between 100-101.3%. While ratios have remained relatively stable on the condo side, we’ve been seeing consistent downward pressure across the overall residential market since June through the summer and expect this to continue as rising interest rates continue to put pressure on buyers' purchasing power alongside increasing available supply across the resale market.

Time it Takes to Sell

Median days to sell a condo is currently 16 days vs. 19 days during the same time last year

So what? Condos are selling faster now than they were during the same time last year and also quicker than we also saw at the beginning of this year. While keeping an eye on how long it takes to sell can be a good metric to help gauge the market, one thing to keep in mind here is that this stat can get skewed a little when listings elect to hold offers or establish a pre-defined date at which offers are to be submitted and reviewed by the seller as this has the effect of potentially artificially increasing the number of days it may have otherwise taken to sell the listing. Long and short - important metric but one you can’t look at in isolation.

Selling Prices

The median and average condo sale prices as of the end of July were $548,000 and $557,692, respectively up from $483,500 and $526,572 at the beginning of the year.

So what? While average and median sales prices are both still down from February 2022 levels, prices have been rising consistently since the beginning of the year and are up 5.91% across the local condo market since January and up 4.46% across the local residential real estate market as a whole. While it’s always difficult to pick the perfect time to buy, pricing levels right now relatively to where they were early last year combined with increasing supply of listings and a lower ratio between the sale price and original list price suggest a positive market for buyers with a longer term mindset who are able to weather the current rate environment over the short to medium term. This is especially true for savvy buyers who recognize the current challenges in providing new housing supply alongside increased immigration and population growth that is expected to continue to exacerbate the current housing shortage and continue to place upward pressures on housing prices and rents.

Need help finding unique opportunities in the current market or have questions on what makes the market tick? We love discussing the market and have helped thousands of buyers like you leverage our on-the-ground insights to gain an advantage in the market. Call us at 519-744-8700, DM us on social or use the chat tool on our site to connect live anytime. Have a great week everyone!

-CC

Data Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors ®, Waterloo Region Condo and Residential Sales Statistics 2022 through 2023 YTD.