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Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Housing Market Report
- Average home prices in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Region were down 0.8% year-over-year at $722,351, and up 2.3% from July.
- The Kitchener-Waterloo benchmark price was $628,300 in August 2026, down 6.0% year-over-year and down 0.8% from July.
- The Cambridge benchmark price was $666,400 in August 2026, down 4.2% year-over-year and up 0.7% from July.
- The average detached price was $828,621, down 2.1% year-over-year.
- The average semi-detached price was $574,590, down 7.1% year-over-year.
- Townhouses averaged $543,171, down 8.6% year-over-year.
- Condominiums averaged $393,083, down 9.2% year-over-year.
Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Housing Market Overview
Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Housing Market for August 2026
| Home Price | 1-Month Change | 1-Year Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
Kitchener-Waterloo Benchmark Home Price | $628,300 | -0.8% | -6.0% |
Cambridge Benchmark Home Price | $666,400 | +0.7% | -4.2% |
Average Home Price | $722,351 | +2.3% | -0.8% |
Note: The MLS HPI benchmark price represents the value of a ‘typical’ home in the area.
Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Housing Market as of August 2026
Average Prices and Home Sales
The average price in the Waterloo Region was $722,351 in August 2026, down 0.8% year-over-year and up 2.3% from July. That follows July's 3.9% year-over-year decline to $706,240. The broader trend reflects ongoing normalization from the elevated price levels of recent years.
Average Prices by Property Type - August 2026
- Detached homes: $828,621 (down 2.1% from August 2025)
- Townhouses: $543,171 (down 8.6% from August 2025)
- Condominiums: $393,083 (down 9.2% from August 2025)
- Semi-detached: $574,590 (down 7.1% from August 2025)
481 home sales in the Waterloo Region in August 2026 were down 10.3% year-over-year and down 17.4% from July. That followed July's 582 sales, down 9.6% year-over-year. New listings of 887 were down 14.8% year-over-year. The market closed August with 3.5 months of supply, placing it in balanced market territory. The sales-to-new-listings ratio was 54.2%.
Sales by Property Type - August 2026
- Detached homes: 325 sales (up 1.6% from August 2025)
- Townhouses: 76 sales (down 25% from August 2025)
- Apartment Condominiums: 49 sales (down 21% from August 2025)
- Semi-detached: 30 sales (down 45% from August 2025)
Benchmark Home Prices
The Kitchener-Waterloo benchmark price was $628,300 in August 2026, down 6.0% year-over-year and down 0.8% from July. The Cambridge benchmark stood at $666,400, down 4.2% year-over-year and up 0.7% from July.
Market Outlook
August brought 481 home sales in the Waterloo Region, down 10.3% year-over-year and down 17.4% from July. The market closed August with 3.5 months of supply, placing it in balanced market territory. New listings were down 14.8% year-over-year at 887.
Prices faced year-over-year pressure across property types, with the average down 0.8% year-over-year to $722,351. Condominiums showed the largest move at down 9.2% year-over-year, alongside detached at down 2.1%, townhouses at down 8.6%, and semi-detached at down 7.1%. By property type, condominiums sit in buyer's market territory at 7.3 months of supply, detached at 2.8 months and townhouses at 4.1 months, placing detached in seller's market and townhouses in balanced market territory, and semi-detached at 1.9 months in seller's market territory.
Note: The benchmark price reflects the value of a typical home based on the MLS® HPI, while the average and median prices represent actual transactions. The average can be skewed by high-end sales, while the median is less sensitive to extremes.
Housing Stock in Waterloo Region
The region held about 233,000 private dwellings at the 2021 census and has kept building briskly since — Waterloo has been one of the country's faster-building markets, and its supply picture has turned quickly. A wave of condominium and rental projects launched during the low-rate years of 2020 to 2022 has been completing through 2025 and 2026, adding to the stock just as demand cooled. One visible result is that the region's rental vacancy rate has climbed to its highest level in decades, a sharp reversal from the near-zero vacancies of a few years ago. Fresh supply arriving while population growth slows is a large part of why prices have softened across property types.
Who's Moving Here
The region's population reached roughly 701,600 by mid-2025, up from about 628,000 only three years earlier. That gain of more than 70,000 people briefly made Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo the fastest-growing metropolitan area in Canada, though the pace has since eased toward 1.5 to 2 percent a year. The shift is almost entirely a matter of federal policy. Growth here leans heavily on international arrivals, and on students and other temporary residents in particular, so the new caps on those categories have pulled the numbers down faster than in most regions and drained a sizable source of rental demand.
What Drives the Market
Underneath it all is the region's economy, and above all its technology sector. Anchored by the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College, and sitting at the western end of the Toronto-Waterloo tech corridor, the area continues to draw graduates and employers in software, engineering, and advanced manufacturing. The labour market has been soft through 2026, though: the unemployment rate sat around 8.2% in August, a three-month average that ranks among the higher readings among Canadian metros and runs above the national level, reflecting the manufacturing and trade headwinds weighing on Southern Ontario. Even so, its affordability next to the Greater Toronto Area keeps pulling in buyers priced out of markets an hour east — a long-running pillar of demand that holds up through softer stretches.
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Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Housing Market Statistics for All Property Types
Average Sold Price
Total Transactions
Property Type Distribution
Market Overview for Detached Homes
Average Sold Price
Transactions
Market Overview for Semi-Detached Homes
Average Sold Price
Transactions
Market Overview for Townhouses
Average Sold Price
Transactions
Market Overview for Condo Apartments
Average Sold Price
Transactions
Housing Markets of Major Cities in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge Region
Housing Markets Across Canada
Glossary and Definitions
MLS® Home Price Index (HPI): Developed by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the MLS® HPI is the most advanced tool for tracking price trends in the Canadian housing market. Rather than using simple average prices, which can be skewed by the mix of homes sold in a given month, the HPI tracks the value of a "Benchmark Home"—a property with typical attributes for its specific neighborhood. This allows for an accurate "apples-to-apples" comparison of home values across different regions and time periods, independent of a property's specific features or seasonal volatility. To ensure the index remains relevant, CREA performs an annual review every May to account for evolving market dynamics.
MLS® HPI Benchmark Price: This is the dollar value assigned to a "typical" home in a specific neighborhood. While the HPI itself is an index number used to track trends, the Benchmark Price translates that data into a real-world dollar figure, representing what a standard home with average features (like square footage, rooms, and lot size) would likely sell for in today's market.
Property types
Detached home: A detached home is your standard single-family home. It is a residential building that stands alone and is separately titled or legally a single unit.
Semi-detached home: A semi-detached home is similar to a detached home, except it shares a wall with another home. This pair of homes must make up an independent building and each should be separately titled or legally two separate units. There can only be two homes in a semi-detached building.
Townhouses: A townhouse is the middle between a detached/semi-detached home and a condo apartment. Like detached and semi-detached homes, they are often single-family units that have their own land and may be attached to other units. However, like condo apartments, they typically have to pay co-ownership fees for maintenance and may share some common features with their neighbors.
Condo apartment: This category includes all apartments and condominiums. These are complexes of residential units with common areas such as hallways, parking lots, stairwells, etc. They can be low-rise, mid-rise, or high-rise buildings. Unlike townhouses, there are no parts of the lot (the land of the building) where access is reserved for only one owner or occupant. There can be privately owned units and spaces inside the building.
Property Classes
Freeholds: A freehold is any property where the owner owns both the house and the land it is built on. Common freehold property types include: detached, semi-detached, some townhouses, and farmland.
Condominiums: A condominium or condo is any property where the owner owns the home (or unit) but shares ownership of the land and other improvements with a condominium corporation. Common condominium property types include condo apartments and some townhouses.
Leasehold: Leasehold describes the situation where different entities own the land and the structure built on the land. Owners of the buildings have leased the land and pay rent to their landlord while owning the building on the land.
Housing Markets Across Canada
Data sourced from the Waterloo Association of Realtors (WRAR) and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Any analysis or commentary is the opinion of the analysts at WOWA.ca and should not be construed as investment advice. Please consult a licensed real estate professional before making a real estate investment decision. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA.
Disclaimer:
- Any analysis or commentary reflects the opinions of WOWA.ca analysts and should not be considered financial advice. Please consult a licensed professional before making any decisions.
- The calculators and content on this page are for general information only. WOWA® does not guarantee the accuracy and is not responsible for any consequences of using the calculator.
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- Interest rates are sourced from financial institutions' websites or provided to us directly. Real estate data is sourced from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and regional boards' websites and documents.
- The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service®, and associated logos are owned by CREA and identify services provided by its members.