The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

21 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,July 21,2022 w aterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO REGION RECORD HOME DELIVERY Starting at $2.75*/week for 52 weeks SUBSCRIBE ONLINE: therecord.com/save Or call 1-800-210-5210 and quote one of the following codes: Weekend delivery code: CWWGGIFT - includes a $20 bonus gift** 6-DAY delivery code: CWRGGIFT - includes a $40 bonus gift** *Plus HST. See full terms and condi�ons at therecord.com/save. This introductory offer is not available to current Waterloo Region Record subscribers. The weekend offer, $2.75/wk., includes the Friday and Saturday edi�on of the Waterloo Region Record Newspaper. The 6-day offer, $5.99/wk., includes Monday - Saturday edi�ons of the Waterloo Region Record Newspaper. The New York Times Interna�onal Weekly and Book Review sec�on and Record TV book are not included. Save 44% off the newsstand rate for the weekend offer and save 54% off the newsstand rate for the 6-day offer. Home delivery will con�nue a�er the 12-month introductory period at the regular home-delivery rate then in effect. Contact customer service at 1-800-210-5210 or 519-894-3000 to get the regular rate for your area. Payment must be made by credit card only. View our subscriber agreement at thestar.com/agreement and our privacy policy at thestar.com/privacy. **The $20 or $40 ESSO™ and MOBIL™ e-gi� card will be emailed to you once your first payment is processed successfully. Please allow 1-4 weeks for delivery of your e-gi� card. Refunds are not available for the value of the e-gi� card. Subscrip�ons cancelled prior to the end of the subscrip�on term will be charged back for the value of the e-gi� card. A valid email address is required to email the e-gi� card to you. Offer expires September 15, 2022. Esso is a trademark of Imperial Oil Limited. Imperial Oil, licensee. Mobil is a trademark or registered trademark of Exxon Mobil Corpora�on or one of its subsidiaries. Imperial Oil, licensee. For terms and condi�ons, visit h�ps://gi�cards.esso.ca/terms. U P TO LIMITED-TIME OFFER! 54%OFF SUMMER BONUSGIFT GET AN ESSO™ ANDMOBIL™ E-GIFT CARD** WITH SUBSCRIPTION Overheated house prices are in a steady retreat, with the aver- age price of a detached home in Kitchener and Waterloo down nearly $300,000 from February highs. The four-month cool-down brought that average price down to $920,349 last month, according to new statistics from the Kitche- ner-Waterloo Association of Real- tors -- virtually the same as it was one year ago. "For the fourth consecutive month we're seeing home prices moderate as the number of prop- erties available for sale has steadily increased," association president Megan Bell said in a re- lease. That detached average was al- so down 9.5 per cent compared to May. The average price for all resi- dential properties sold through the association's Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system in June was $791,674, down considerably after nudging over the million- dollar mark in February. The overall average dropped 9.6 per cent compared to May, but was still up by 4.2 per cent over June 2021. Sales volume has also declined significantly, with 561 residential properties changing hands in Kitchener and Waterloo last month -- that's a drop of 24 per cent year over year, and down 17.3 per cent compared to the previ- ous five-year average. "This time last year, sales were going through the roof," Bell said. "The home-buying scene is a little different this year, with folks fi- nally taking their postponed trips, attending weddings, and generally catching up on the many missed occasions of the past two years." Bell said recent mortgage rate increases are also a contributing factor in the sales slowdown. With 1,285 new listings added to the association's MLS system last month -- up nearly 50 per cent compared to last June, and 41.7 per cent higher than the pre- vious 10-year average for the month -- there were 991 homes for sale at the end of June. That's an increase of 165 per cent year-over-year, but still 20.6 per cent below the previous 10- year average. It's brought the number of months of inventory up to 1.8 months, from 1.6 months in May, returning to inventory levels seen in June 2019 before the pan- demic struck; the number of months of inventory is a measure of how long it would take to sell current inventory at the current pace. Still, inventory remains quite low -- opinions vary, but many analysts consider a balanced market to have four to six months of inventory. It took an average of 13 days to sell a property in June. "While any shift in the market will result in some individuals predicting the worst, the simple reality is that the market we had been in was unsustainable," Bell said. "What this means for buyers is more inventory, more choices, and perhaps most importantly, potentially less stress when pur- chasing," she said. "For sellers, they need to en- sure their properties stand out from the competition and be aware it may take more time to sell their home and for potential- ly less money than they were ex- pecting." Waterloo Region remains a relative real estate bargain com- pared to the Greater Toronto Ar- ea, where the average price for detached homes stood at $1,454,902 last month. The aver- age for all property types there was $1,146,254. BUSINESS DETACHED HOUSE PRICES IN K-W DOWN NEARLY $300,000 AVERAGE SALE PRICE IN JUNE BACK TO WHERE IT WAS A YEAR AGO BRENT DAVIS bdavis@therecord.com A four-month cooldown has brought the average price of a detached home down to $920,349 in June, according to new statistics from the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors. Metro Creative Photo