By Warren McNeil

Seems like one of the most common questions people ask me these days is what is going on with the real estate market in Kitchener-Waterloo. Now being the positive person I am, I am telling people that the market is a bit soft right now but I am very optimistic that we should be able to weather the storm. One thing is for sure, people still need a place to live and as long as there are still buyers, there will be sellers.

What I am seeing happening right now is that houses are sitting on the market a little longer and some people in some areas of the city are getting less money then they would have a year ago. I think there are few of factors at play here. Some of these factors are, the US subprime situation, the current election, the time of year, banks have stopped offering 0 down or 40 year mortgages, the negative media exposure coming from the US and other areas of Canada.

Take a look at this chart:

According to the above chart, the overall average house prices consistently gone up over the last 8 years in our area. In some areas the appreciation has been alot higher. My point is, sooner or later things cool down. The hot market of the last couple of years is starting to cool. How much will it cool? Only time will tell.

I have heard news reports stating that the Kitchener-Waterloo real estate market is one of the top ten markets in Canada to invest in. I believe this to be true.

Here are a couple record postings that might cheer you up! When I read the following postings I can’t help but remain optimistic.

Housing sales on track for record year
http://news.therecord.com/article/251944

Townhouses, condos bolster real estate sales
http://news.therecord.com/article/424344

Residential sales up 10 per cent
http://news.therecord.com/article/423822

Townhouses, condos and semi-detached are currently selling well. This means that parts of our market are still strong, Hopefully this will spill over into the other areas that are not doing as well.

Luxury house sales in our area are also up:

Re-Max reports upswing in luxury home sales in major Canadian cities
http://news.therecord.com/article/237718

Luxury housing market standing its ground
http://news.therecord.com/article/420246

Luxury home sales rising in ‘unprecedented’ uptick
http://news.therecord.com/article/238144

It always gets better!