Detached Homes for Sale in Kitchener-Waterloo

Read More About Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo

Detached Homes in General

In our past article on common types of home for sale in Kitchener-Waterloo, we described Detached Homes thusly: “A detached building means just that: there is nothing attached to it (save for its own garage or shed), and it stands alone. It is surrounded by open space on all sides, and no other building exists above or below it, either” (WRX, 2018).

Detached Homes are also often referred to as “Single-Family Homes,” and that is typically the standard function they serve: a home for a single family unit, standing on its own, with direct access to the outdoors. This is as opposed to a multi-family unit, like a condominium, which features individual units and a shared, common access to the outdoors.

Because of the greater privacy they provide and the reduced noise as a result of no shared walls or floors, as well as aspects like individual control over renovations and design, private access in and out, and often larger (and private) shares of lawn space (and, if there is a garage, garage space). Detached Homes have several advantages over other styles, but this often means a higher price than a Town Home or other multi-dwelling units.

That’s not to say that Detached Homes don’t have a few of their own downsides. Specifically, Detached Homes do come with greater responsibility: maintenance issues and upkeep fall on the owner(s), as opposed to (in the case of a condo) the condo board. A higher upfront price can also be an increased risk, particularly for first-time buyers.

Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo

So that’s the general picture; what do things look like in Kitchener-Waterloo specifically? Well, I’m glad you asked, because that’s what we’ll be talking about next!

Detached Homes are scarcer in densely-populated areas, simply because each individual Detached Home takes up more space per person than multi-dwelling units of various sorts and sizes (the upcoming condominiums in Downtown Kitchener, by building up rather than out, means there is more potential for a dense population. Detached Homes become much more common as you travel away from the dense population centres.

Uptown Waterloo and Downtown Kitchener are the most obvious examples of this process. Looking at a map of Detached House sales in Kitchener-Waterloo, there is a notable gap spreading northwest of Victoria Street South along King Street West, up to William Street West. It is more difficult to find a Detached Home for sale here, as well as the environs of the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University campuses, than other areas, which we’ll be looking at shortly.

Where to Find Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo

Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo are easiest to find in the primarily residential segments of any given neighbourhood. Of late, the western halves of both Kitchener and Waterloo have seen quite a bit of activity, though there are consistent sales of Detached Homes in a several block radius around the Downtown Kitchener/Uptown Waterloo core, particularly off of and around streets connected to Weber Street East.

Detached Homes are quite popular, for the reasons listed before. And with many Detached Homes built in the surging ‘50s and ‘60s, and a few regions (like Southwest Kitchener) undergoing rapid development recently, you can find concentrated residential areas in numerous neighbourhoods throughout Kitchener-Waterloo. Many Detached Homes

 

See Detached Homes for Sale in Kitchener-Waterloo

 

Price of Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo

As of our latest information, there have been nine homes sold for $1 million or more in the past year. The lowest price of a Detached Home in Kitchener-Waterloo was just over $280,000. The average price for Detached Homes, month to month, typically falls somewhere between the $550,000 -$ 600,000 range (the average in November 2018 was $580,551, whereas it was $564,718 in January 2019).

The average price for all residential properties in Kitchener-Waterloo, by contrast, has typically hovered between $470,000 and $500,000 (the average in November 2018 was $477,526, compared to $484,076 in January 2019). Almost across the board, average prices for properties in Kitchener-Waterloo are climbing, year by year. Between January 2018 and January 2019, for example, there was a 1.9 per cent increase in Detached Homes’ average sale price, and a 5.3 per cent increase overall.

If you are looking for a Detached Home in Kitchener-Waterloo, then the most opportunities will be within range of the Detached Houses’ average sale prices, with $10-20,000 over or under. Being able to budget for a price of between $450,000 and $550,000 would give good flexibility for the Kitchener-Waterloo Detached Home market, though as we’ll discuss shortly, prices on the lower end of the spectrum tend to see more competition, and thus potential price increases.

All of that said, there are opportunities for buyers on either end of the overall spectrum. As noted, there were nine Detached Houses sold for $1 million or more, but there were 19 Detached homes sold for over $900,000. Many of the higher price point Detached Homes in Kitchener-Waterloo can be found in specific neighbourhoods; namely, Hidden Valley and Deer Ridge in Kitchener, and the far west and northeast of Waterloo (Vista Hills is particularly on the rise, in terms of higher price homes). But again, homebuyers looking for higher price points can find homes in multiple areas in Kitchener-Waterloo.

In terms of the lower price point end of the overall range, there were nearly 50 Detached Homes sold in Kitchener-Waterloo for prices below $400,000. These can be found in multiple neighbourhoods around Kitchener-Waterloo, but there are a few points to consider: many of the lower price-point homes are in areas of the cities with homes built between the’50s and the ‘60s. Many of them are fairly close to the Conestoga Parkway.

Very few (if any) of the lower price point Detached Homes are in Southwest Kitchener and Northeast Waterloo. A major factor in this is that these are, on the whole, much newer neighbourhoods, and many of the Detached Homes being built here are larger than the average size. The newer, larger homes, in growing neighbourhoods, tend to sell for prices over $500,000.

These neighbourhoods have quite a few benefits: spacious, brand new homes; calm, residential streets; and typically great outdoor access (green lawns). However, a drawback to these areas with greater concentrations of brand new homes is that they are typically distant from commercial and cultural areas (Downtown Kitchener, for example), and thus necessitate longer drives (though some people value the privacy this provides).

 

Conclusion

We noted that Detached Homes are quite popular, and as such, we’ll be exploring specific models in greater depth over the next few weeks (Bungalows, for example). So stay tuned if there’s a certain type of Detached House in Kitchener-Waterloo that you’re in search of! As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re looking to buy a home in Kitchener-Waterloo – we’re always happy to help.

Written by Will Kummer

 

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