2023, A Year-In-Review: Waterloo Region Real Estate

Year In Review 2023 - Strong Start, Tapered By Inflation

We began 2023 with high hopes for the economy. Inflation came in lower than expected for the month of February, and by March, the Central Bank of Canada was signalling that rate hikes would be on hold indefinitely. The Waterloo Region residential real estate market reacted with increased sales volume month over month, and prices climbed from January to June in 2023. The price run came to a halt when the Central Bank began raising rates to cool off the housing market, a 1/4 point in June and again in July of 2023.

By the Fall of 2023, our region had begun a slow, backward march in real estate values. Single-detached homes saw value erode slower than semi-detached and townhouses. Buyer demand has been largely defined by affordability and mortgage rates. Perhaps this also explains first-time homeownership, lower value residential property having lost more value than detached homes. Furthermore, in 2023 single detached listing inventory was down 17%; these homeowners may have realized larger equity gains and are further incentivized not to sell in a down market.

Listing inventory continued to remain depressed throughout 2023, down 14% over the three-year average (MarketStats Waterloo Region). Buyers and Sellers continued to act more cautiously in this market. Within our brokerage trades, we saw offers with conditions and some Buyers requiring the sale of their home before they firmed up on an offer.

In summary: At Benjamins Realty, we continue to watch the CPI carefully, as inflation and interest rates had a strong bearing on depreciating sales volume and values for 2023. 

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