It’s hard to believe summer has already come and gone. We hope you enjoyed the last few weeks of August and are settling back into the routines that come with September.
With August behind us, we wanted to share an update on the Waterloo Region real estate market and what we’re seeing as we head into the fall market.
August brought another slowdown in activity compared with July, with fewer sales and fewer new listings coming to market. Overall inventory also declined.
Prices, however, edged higher from July, with both the average and median sale price increasing slightly, while remaining below where they were a year ago.
The market remains active, but increasingly selective. Buyers are paying close attention to value, and how a home is prepared, priced and positioned continues to have a significant impact on the results sellers are achieving.
August Market Stats
Compared with July 2026 and August 2025:
477 homes sold — ↓ 17.6% vs. July | ↓ 11.7% YoY
$723,402 average sale price — ↑ 2.3% vs. July | ↓ 0.9% YoY
$680,000 median sale price — ↑ 0.7% vs. July | ↓ 1.3% YoY
881 new listings — ↓ 23.9% vs. July | ↓ 14.9% YoY
1,690 homes for sale — ↓ 12.3% vs. July | ↓ 10.7% YoY
36 days on market — ↑ from 33 in July | ↑ from 32 last August
3.4 months of inventory — ↓ from 3.9 in July | ↓ from 3.6 last August
99.8% of most recent list price received — ↓ from 100.2% in July | ↓ from 100.9% last August
Year-to-date, residential sales are down 6.3% from 2025, while the average sale price is down 4.2% and the median sale price is down 4.9%.
While sales slowed in August, the number of new listings and homes available for sale also fell considerably. That helped bring months of inventory down from July, even as homes took slightly longer to sell.
A Closer Look by Housing Type
The overall numbers only tell part of the story. There continues to be a meaningful difference between the performance of single-family homes and the townhouse, semi-detached and condominium segment.
Single Family Homes:
Single-family homes continued to show stronger relative demand in August.
322 sales — ↓ 15.9% vs. July | ↓ 0.6% YoY
$830,071 average sale price — ↑ 2.3% vs. July | ↓ 2.1% YoY
$761,500 median sale price — ↑ 0.2% vs. July | ↓ 3.0% YoY
30 days on market — unchanged from July | ↑ from 29 last August
2.8 months of inventory — ↓ from 3.2 in July | ↓ from 2.9 last August
100.3% of most recent list price received — unchanged from July | ↓ from 101.2% last August
Year-to-date, single-family sales are slightly ahead of 2025, up 0.6%. The average sale price is down 5.1% year-to-date, while the median sale price is down 4.7%.
With fewer than three months of inventory, relatively stable year-over-year sales and shorter selling timelines, single-family homes continue to be the more resilient part of the Waterloo Region market.
Townhomes, Semis & Condominiums
This segment continues to offer buyers more choice and greater negotiating power.
155 sales — ↓ 20.9% vs. July | ↓ 28.2% YoY
$501,805 average sale price — ↓ 0.1% vs. July | ↓ 9.4% YoY
$510,000 median sale price — ↓ 1.3% vs. July | ↓ 6.7% YoY
48 days on market — ↑ from 39 in July | ↑ from 35 last August
4.6 months of inventory — ↓ from 5.1 in July | ↓ from 4.7 last August
98.8% of most recent list price received — ↓ from 99.9% in July | ↓ from 100.5% last August
Year-to-date, sales in this segment are down 16.8% from 2025, while the average sale price is down 8.4% and the median sale price is down 7.8%.
With substantially weaker year-over-year sales, more inventory and longer selling timelines than the single-family segment, this part of the market remains especially price sensitive.
Looking Ahead
Interest rates remain an important part of the housing outlook. On September 2, the Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25%. The Bank noted that growth and inflation have evolved broadly in line with its previous forecast, while upside risks to inflation have increased and new tariffs have added uncertainty to the economic outlook. Future rate decisions remain dependent on incoming economic data.
RBC Economics expects the housing recovery to remain gradual and uneven rather than producing a sharp rebound. Its latest outlook forecasts Ontario home resales increasing 8.2% in 2027, following a modest decline this year, while Ontario home values are projected to rise approximately 0.7% next year. RBC also believes interest rates may be near the low point of this cycle, meaning further improvement may increasingly depend on affordability, employment, buyer confidence and pent-up demand rather than significantly lower borrowing costs.
These are provincial forecasts rather than Waterloo Region-specific predictions, but the broader message is relevant: any recovery is likely to be gradual, and conditions may continue to vary significantly between different segments of the market.
What We’re Seeing in the Market
Homes are selling, but the margin for error on pricing has become very small.
August reinforces how differently individual segments of the market are behaving. Single-family sales were almost unchanged from a year ago, declining just 0.6%, while sales in the townhouse, semi-detached and condominium segment fell 28.2%. That makes broad market averages less useful when determining the value of a specific property.
Pricing a home today often requires considerably more analysis than reviewing a handful of recent comparable sales. We look at current competition, location, lot, square footage, condition, renovations, layout, inventory, buyer demand and pricing history. When there are limited recent comparables, we may also need to examine older sales and historical market movements to understand how those properties translate into today’s market.
This is where experience becomes especially important. Not every comparable sale is equally relevant, and not every home should be prepared or marketed the same way.
When the analysis is thorough and a home is positioned correctly, we are still seeing buyers respond quickly and, in some cases, compete. When the price misses the market, even by what may seem like a relatively small amount, the difference in activity can be significant.
Just as importantly, not every seller needs to spend heavily before listing. Part of the strategy is knowing which improvements will matter to buyers, which ones will not, and where a seller’s time and money are most likely to have an impact.
Bottom Line
Waterloo Region remains an active but increasingly segmented market.
Single-family homes continue to show stronger relative demand, while townhomes, semis and condominiums are giving buyers more choice and negotiating power.
For sellers, accurate pricing, preparation and positioning remain critical. For buyers, the current market provides more time to assess value and, in many cases, greater negotiating opportunity than during the highly competitive markets of recent years.
Looking ahead, broader forecasts point to a gradual rather than dramatic recovery, with conditions continuing to vary by property type, price range and location.
If you are considering buying, selling, downsizing or relocating, or just want an accurate and thoughtful assessment of what your home may be worth in today’s market, we would be happy to help.
Below you will find some of The Deutschmann Team's featured listings. Tap each image below to view more information about the listing.
Your Listing's Real Competition Probably Isn’t Your Neighbour’s
When homeowners think about competition, they often think about recent sales in their neighbourhood.
Those matter, but your real competition is the homes buyers are actively choosing between right now.
A property does not need to be on your street, in your neighbourhood or even be the same style of home to compete with yours. If a buyer has a $900,000 budget, they may be comparing a renovated older home in Waterloo, a newer detached home in Kitchener or a larger property just outside the city.
From the buyer's perspective, all of those homes are competing for the same money.
We Look at Buyer Alternatives, Not Just Comparables
When positioning a home, we look at what a buyer could choose instead. A property may have comparable sales supporting its price, but if buyers can get a more updated home, a better lot or more square footage for similar money, that matters.
Buyers are constantly weighing trade-offs. They may sacrifice size for location, accept an older kitchen for a larger lot or move to a different area to get more for their budget.
The question is not only: “What are similar homes worth?”
It is also: “What else can a buyer get for this money?”
Active Listings Matter
Sold properties show us what buyers were willing to pay. Active listings show us what buyers are deciding between right now. Both are important.
Before listing a home, we look closely at the homes currently available around the same price point and ask:
What does ours do better?
Where does it fall short?
What features will buyers compare directly?
Is the price difference justified?
And most importantly, does the home feel like strong value relative to the alternatives?
Your Home Does Not Need to Be the Lowest-Priced Listing on the Market
Competing well does not mean undercutting every other listing. The goal is to create a clear reason for a buyer to choose your home. Sometimes that reason is price. Other times it is the lot, location, condition, presentation, layout or overall lifestyle the property offers.
The strongest listings are usually the ones where the price, presentation and market position all make sense together.
Because when buyers are deciding between several homes, the property that feels like the best overall opportunity is often the one that gets the offer.
If you are considering building a custom home in Kitchener-Waterloo, one of the first questions is usually: how much does it cost per square foot to build a house?
The quick answer is that a reasonable 2026 planning range for custom-home construction in Kitchener-Waterloo is approximately $300 to $600+ per square foot, depending on the builder, design, site and level of finish.
For preliminary budgeting:
Quality Custom: $300–$375+/sq. ft.
Premium Custom: $375–$475+/sq. ft.
Luxury Custom: $475–$600+/sq. ft.
Highly Customized Estate Home: Can exceed $600/sq. ft.
These are planning estimates, not fixed prices. The most important point is that cost per square foot is not the same thing as the total cost of your project.
What Could That Mean for Your Construction Budget?
Using $375–$500 per square foot as a practical preliminary construction range:
2,000 sq. ft.: $750,000–$1,000,000
2,500 sq. ft.: $937,500–$1,250,000
3,000 sq. ft.: $1,125,000–$1,500,000
3,500 sq. ft.: $1,312,500–$1,750,000
4,000 sq. ft.: $1,500,000–$2,000,000
At the luxury end, the numbers increase quickly. A 3,500-square-foot home at $600 per square foot represents approximately $2.1 million in construction before land and any project costs outside the builder’s quoted construction price.
The Cost of the House Is Only Part of the Equation
Land, development charges, permits, architectural and engineering fees, demolition, site preparation, servicing, financing, HST, landscaping and the level of finish can all materially affect the final number.
Development charges alone can represent a significant expense.
For a new single-detached home, the currently published City and Regional base-rate totals are approximately $68,486 in Waterloo, $64,500 in central Kitchener and $74,872 in full-service suburban Kitchener. Rates are subject to change and should always be confirmed for the specific property before finalizing a budget.
Don’t Buy a Building Lot Based on Price Alone
A $500,000 lot can ultimately be a better purchase than a $400,000 lot if the less expensive property requires significant servicing, grading, retaining walls, demolition or other site work.
Before purchasing land, it is important to investigate zoning, the actual building envelope, setbacks, lot coverage, easements, servicing, grading and drainage, soil conditions, tree restrictions, demolition requirements and any potential GRCA restrictions.
A teardown may also have different economics than a vacant lot. Existing services, location and potential redevelopment credits can provide advantages, while demolition and site preparation introduce additional costs.
Build or Buy?
Building gives you control over things that are difficult or impossible to change later, including the placement of the house, floor plan, ceiling heights, windows, mechanical systems, garage dimensions and overall architecture.
But when comparing building with purchasing an existing home, we would look at three numbers:
What will the land or teardown property cost?
What will the complete finished project cost?
What is the completed home realistically likely to be worth?
That third number is often overlooked.
It is possible to build an incredible home and still spend significantly more than the surrounding market will support. For that reason, resale value should be considered before the design and budget are finalized, particularly when building a high-end custom home.
Building a custom home starts with much more than choosing a builder. The property you buy, what you pay for it, what can actually be built on it and what the finished home will ultimately be worth are all part of the same decision.
How to Make Any Room Feel Larger
Making a room feel larger is less about removing everything from it and more about controlling how the eye moves through the space.
Many of the same techniques are used when professionally staging a home for the market, where proportion, sightlines and visual continuity can significantly change how a room is perceived.
Create Longer Sightlines
One of the easiest ways to make a space feel larger is to reduce anything that interrupts the eye.
Keep taller furniture away from entrances, major windows and transitions between rooms. When you can see farther into or across a space without visual obstructions, the room tends to feel more expansive.
Use a Properly Sized Rug
A rug that is too small can make a room feel broken up and disconnected.
Choose one that properly anchors the furniture. In a living room, the front legs of the main seating pieces should generally sit on the rug so the arrangement feels like one cohesive space.
Draw the Eye Up
Using the height of a room can make it feel more generous.
Hanging curtains closer to the ceiling, using taller artwork or adding vertical elements can help emphasize ceiling height and make the room feel less confined.
Think About Flow
Furniture placement should make it easy to move through the room without weaving around obstacles.
You do not necessarily need to push everything against the walls. A well-defined seating area with clear walkways can often make the room feel more balanced and spacious.
Choose Furniture That Fits the Space
Furniture scale can completely change how large or small a room feels.
Pieces that are too bulky can overwhelm a smaller space, while too many undersized pieces can make a room feel busy and disconnected. The goal is to choose fewer pieces that are appropriately sized for the room and leave enough space to move comfortably around them.
A well-proportioned sofa, properly sized coffee table and a few intentional accent pieces will usually make a room feel more spacious than trying to fit in several smaller pieces.
Keep the Overall Look Cohesive
Too many competing colours, patterns and finishes can make a room feel visually crowded.
Using a more consistent palette throughout the space helps everything flow together, which can make the room feel calmer and more open.
These are many of the same techniques used when staging a home for sale. The goal is not to make a room feel empty, but to make the most of the space that is already there.
