Following slightly weaker sales activity in October compared to the prior
year, area real estate sales in November regained the momentum we ex-
perienced through much of the late spring and summer.
Area real estate sales reported through the MLS
®
system of the Southern
Georgian Bay Association of REALTORS
®
reflected a 9% increase in unit
sales duringNovember with a total of 147properties being sold. WithNo-
vember’s results, year-to-date MLS
®
sales now total 2,009 properties up
7.5% from the 1,869 individual sales reported in the first 11 months of
2012. This marks the first time since 2007 that MLS
®
sales in our area
have surpassed2,000 units sold in annual sales. Dollar volume for Novem-
ber totaled $44.0 million, up 11% from $39.5 million sold in November
2012. The higher increase in dollar volume is due to the fact that several
high-end sales took place during November. It should be pointed out that
two sales which combined totaled just over $3 million were for properties
outside of our market area and have been subtracted to arrive at the net
sale number above.
Year-to-date dollar volume of $594.9 million is up 8.4% from 2012 so we
will for the first time, crack the $600million dollar barrier for annual MLS
®
sales volume in 2013.
The following is a summary of the key price ranges where most of the sales
activity is taking place in 2013. Year-to-date sales under $200,000 are
up 9.8%, sales from $350,000 to $500,000 are up 18.1%while sales in
the $800,000 to$1million and over $1million price ranges are up20.0%
and 11.5% respectively.
Themunicipalities of ClearviewandMeaford continue to outpace all other
area municipalities in terms of MLS
®
sales. Sales in Clearview Township
are up 15.7% in terms of units sold while theMunicipality of Meaford is up
26.4%. Year-to-date MLS
®
sales in the Town of Collingwood are essen-
tially equal to last year while MLS
®
sales inWasaga Beach and the Blue
Mountains are up 2.2% and 5.2% respectively. The Municipality of Grey
Highlands shows a 15.3% decrease is residential sales during 2012 and
I maintain that the closure of Talisman Resort has had some impact on the
demand for real estate in that area.
Single family home sales through the end of November total 1,306 homes
sold, an increase of 3.6% over last year. Condominium sales continue to
be a popular form of property ownership in the area and are up 8.5% in
2013with 358 units sold year-to-date through the local MLS
®
system. Va-
cant land sales have also rebounded in 2013 from prior years with 140
vacant lots or land parcels sold though the end of November, an increase
of 20.7% from this time last year.
While sales in 2013 have been very strong and the available housing in-
ventory remains high, we continue to see a reduction in both new and ex-
pired listings. Year-to-date the number of newMLS
®
listings that have come
to market in 2013 reflects a 2.0% decrease totaling 6,109 properties.
Through the end of November effectively 1 in every 3.0 listings sells
whereas by comparison, at the end of the 1st quarter of this year the listing-
to-sales ratio had just 1 in every 3.8 properties listed for sale selling.
As the market starts to wind down with the approaching holidays, MLS
®
sales and listing activity will taper off only to regain momentum in January.
We will certainly set a new level for MLS
®
dollar volume in 2013 and all
indications are pointing to a continued strong demand for area real estate
in 2014.
|E|
109
Winter 2014
Escarpment Magazine
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Cathy Lane
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