114
Escarpment Magazine Harvest & Holiday 2013
While the Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets saw a substantial increase in
sales activity during August, (21% and 54% respectively) that same momentumwas
not reflected in real estate sales across the southern Georgian Bay region.
MLS
®
unit sales in August totaled 196 properties, down just slightly from the 198
sales reported in August 2012. Dollar volume for the month of $58.5 million re-
flected a 2% drop from the $59.7 million worth of area MLS
®
sales in August of
last year. The slightly weaker MLS
®
sales activity experienced in August came on
the heels of three consecutive months May through July, where MLS
®
sales of
$189.1 million represented a $30.5 million or 19.2% gain in MLS
®
sales during
the same three month period last year.
Year-to-date MLS
®
unit sales to the end of August totals 1,442 properties, an in-
crease of 6% over the 1,359 MLS
®
sales during the first eight months of 2012.
MLS
®
dollar volume year-to-date of $424.1 million is up 7% and we are still on
track to a record sales year through the local MLS
®
system which should exceed
$600.0 million.
It is worth noting that after over a year of very weak MLS
®
sales activity in the Mu-
nicipalities of Clearview and Meaford, sales have rebounded during the past two
to three months and are now 11% and 18% ahead of 2012 respectively. The Blue
Mountains is the only areaMunicipality that has consistently exceeded 2012 sales
during much of 2013. Collingwood MLS
®
sales are down 4%, Grey Highlands is
off 19% while MLS
®
sales in Wasaga Beach are dead even with last year.
During the past couple of months we have also seen a resurgence in upper end sales
between $1 and $1.5 million which had been lagging earlier in the year. Sales in
this price range are slightly behind 2012 with 13 MLS
®
sales year-to-date com-
pared to 16 last year. Meanwhile sales above $1.5 million are more than double
2012 with 7 sales thus far in 2013 compared to just 3 last year.
The number of newMLS
®
listings year-to-date totals 4,623, a decrease of just over
3% from last year. The number of expired listings is also down from one year ago
(2%). These two factors combined with the increase in sales has resulted in more
balanced market conditions favouring neither buyers or sellers to any significant
degree. Nonetheless, with slightly over 1 out of every 3 listings sellers, buyers still
have ample resale inventory to choose from within the local MLS
®
listings.
As we head into the fall selling season and with another ski/snowboard season fast
approaching, I forecast we will see some strong sales activity between now and
mid to late November. In the event we get a good jump on the 2013/2014 winter
season, this should put us on a strong footing with which to start the new year.
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ESCARPMENT REAL ESTATE
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marketwatch...
I forecast we will see
some strong sales
activity between now
and mid to late November.
The Market
