Sales dip fails to shake real estate association’s confidence

WATERLOO REGION — Despite looming layoffs at Research In Motion and tighter mortgage lending rules, Sara Hill kept repeating two words almost like a mantra to describe the local real estate market.

“Sure and steady, sure and steady,” the president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors said Thursday, when asked to sum up the housing market of late.

With 596 properties changing hands, residential sales fell 12.2 per cent in the Kitchener and Waterloo area in June compared to the same month last year.

The June sales slump, which came on the heels of a smaller dip last month, “is pretty typical” for the local market, Hill said.

The market normally experiences robust sales in the spring and fall, and less activity at other times of year, she said.

For the first half of the year, sales are up compared to a year ago, she noted. A total of 3,454 properties have changed hands, up 0.1 per cent from 3,449 for the first six months of 2011.

In Cambridge, it was a different story. June sales rose 22.1 per cent from a year ago. A total of 331 properties acquired new owners, compared to 271 in June 2011.

Year to date sales are up 4.4 per cent to 1,632 units, from 1,563 in 2011, the Cambridge Real Estate Board said Thursday.

Back in Kitchener, sales of detached homes — at 2,278 units — have been about the same as last year for the first six months, while townhouse and condo transactions are up slightly. Semi-detached sales are down 8.9 per cent.

Hill is not worried about the upcoming layoff of 2,000 to 3,000 local employees of RIM over the next nine months as the BlackBerry maker downsizes.

“Enough companies are hiring that are going to take up that slack,” she said.

Nor is she concerned about a recent move by the federal government to cut the amortization period for mortgages to 25 years from 30.

“We’re going back to where we were. It’s probably a good thing,” Hill said, of the government move to lower household debt.

As for recent calls by the provincial environment commissioner for mandatory energy audits when homes are sold, Hill said the Ontario Real Estate Association is all for energy audits, just not mandatory audits.

The costs of such audits can be “extensive,” she said, adding that the federal government should reinstate its rebate program for home-energy improvements.

The average price of a home sold in Kitchener and Waterloo rose 3.4 per cent to $312,661 for the first half of the year. In Cambridge, average prices rose 3.8 per cent to $296,362.

chowitt@therecord.com

Source: http://www.therecord.com/news/business/article/755705--sales-dip-fails-to-shake-real-estate-association-s-confidence