July market update: New listings at a low this month

Low housing stock is slowing the market, says Greig Turvey from the GoWylde team

According to Greig Turvey, Sales Representative, GoWylde Team / ReMax, July wasn’t a very exciting month when it comes to real estate in Kitchener.

The prices remained unchanged overall. Townhouses were up 5% from the previous month, while condos were down 4%. The properties continued to sell an average of 12% above list price, so there have been no major price changes.

“The most interesting statistics for me are the number of new advertisements and the number of active advertisements,” says Turvey. “The new listings were at a five-year low in July. We can speculate a little as to why that might be … People may be taking a break from real estate to travel and hop off now that many of the Covid restrictions have been lifted. Or it’s possible that many people who wanted to sell this year have already done so. It’s true that we have increased by around 32% since the start of the year compared to last year’s additions and 9% compared to 2019, a “normal” year. “

Another problem affecting inventory is that many people wait to buy first before putting their home on the market. Because of the low inventory available, most people moving to make a purchase before listing to make sure they find what they are looking for, wait to make a purchase. With the market still so hot, people don’t worry about not being able to sell their home after buying it.

This low inventory is therefore likely to create a backlog among eager sellers. In a more balanced market, they would have the courage to list their home either before or at the same time as the purchase. That, in turn, would help keep the market more balanced.

Thanks to this recent lack of offers coming onto the market, sales have fallen by 18% year over year. Inventory is at a level we haven’t seen since February of this year – which is absolutely unknown for July. We can normally expect an average stock of 700-800 apartments on the market in July, and that figure is currently only 278. The stock in months fell 12% from the previous month to just 0.5.

Says Turvey, “I expect this trend will continue through August before we see the September rush. It will be interesting to see whether September can bring some balance back into the market or whether the supply over the Christmas period will continue to drop to an unprecedented level. “

For more information or to contact Brad Wylde and Greig Turvey real estate agents, visit the GoWylde team or call 519-826-7109.