After a dramatic summer in real estate that saw sales reach new heights on a monthly basis, the record-setting pace showed no sign of slowing last month as Kitchener-Waterloo posted yet another all-time sales record for September.

540 homes were sold in the twin cities last month, representing a 29 per cent jump over the sales activity of last September, according to latest numbers released by the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors.

The sales growth comes amid low housing inventories, with the KWAR recording 821 dwellings on the province's Multiple Listings Service last month, about half the number listed at the same time last year.

Image | CANADA-HOUSING/

Caption: September sales figures shattered yet another record in Kitchener-Waterloo, even amid tight inventories and a dramatic summer that saw reports of sporadic bidding wars and intensifying sales activity month after month. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)

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The smaller number of offerings has led to heated competition between buyers, who've come from as far as Toronto and the GTA in search of more affordable homes, triggering bidding wars and in some cases, driving local prices far above the levels traditionally deemed an acceptable financial risk.

A summer's worth of record-breaking business could explain the sudden surge in condo sales last month, which with an average value of $231,187 might seem like a bargain compared to the average price of a detached home, at $443,554.

Condo sales were up 80 per cent last month compared to the same time last year, accounting for 130 of the 540 property sales in September.

There were 333 detached homes sold in Kitchener and Waterloo last month, up almost 20 per cent over last September.

Sales of free-hold townhouses were up too, to 33 last month, up 22 per cent.

Semi-detached homes remain the least popular among buyers, with only 31 sales registered last month, down 18 per cent over the year before.