It was a slow start to the year for real estate here in Waterloo Region despite 6 rate decreases in a row by the Bank of Canada. January prices are down on a month over month basis in every segment except townhouses. And they are lower year over year except for apt. style condos, up by 5%. The declines are relatively modest, with the biggest decliner, detached, down by 4% compared to last January.
Not surprisingly, market activity this January has been tepid at best, not unlike January of 2023 and ’24. In the case of detached, sales volumes were the lowest in a decade and the other segments weren’t much busier. Listings are up sharply, with towns joining apt. style condos in reaching buyer market status. The detached market is now neutral territory with only semis remaining a seller’s market.
The previously mentioned rate cuts have doing nothing at all to spur on market activity, an indicator that these moves were indeed necessary. The latest cut was in part driven by the threat of tariffs and other punitive moves by the Trump administration. The Bank of Canada also cites excess supply in the Canadian economy as another motivating factor.
I suspect that weather has played a role in the January figures too. It’s been unseasonably snowy and cold and that tends to keep buyers indoors. While this has been a proper Canadian winter, I do expect activity to pick up by the end of next month or early March as it usually does.
