While fewer people are buying detached homes in Kitchener and Waterloo, the condo market is hot.
“The condominium market now comprises nearly 20 per cent of our residential sales,” George Patton, president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, said in a press release on Wednesday.
A total of 953 condominiums have sold so far this year in the Kitchener and Waterloo area, a 2.8 per cent increase from a year ago. Overall, home sales are down 2.9 per cent this year, with 4,975 sales through the first nine months of the year.
“This continues to a growing trend toward condominium-style living that has been developing in the last couple of years,” Patton said.
The stronger demand for condo properties pushed the average price for condos up about five per cent, to an average of $205,434.
Overall, there were fewer sales of residential properties in the Kitchener and Waterloo area in September, but an increase in the number of homes that changed hands in the Cambridge area.
In the Kitchener and Waterloo area, 487 homes were sold last month, with an average sale price of $283,651. That compares to 511 homes in September of last year, and an average price of $280,097.
In Cambridge, 248 homes sold in September, up significantly from the 188 residential properties that changed hands in the same month last year. The average selling price in September was $284,323, a 4.1 per cent increase from the average of $272,946 a year ago.
“Prices continue to increase and sales activity is thriving,” Val Brooks, president of the Real Estate Board of Cambridge, said in a press release.
by Rose Simone, The Record
http://www.therecord.com/news/business/article/604567--condo-sales-up-in-kitchener-and-waterloo