104
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AUTUMN
/
EARLY WINTER
2015
MLS
®
salesas reportedby theSouthernGeorgianBayAssociationof
REALTORS
®
(SGBAR) inAugust totalled$76.5milliona13% increase
overAugust 2014 settinganewhighwatermark for thehighest dollar
volumeeverduring themonthofAugust. Conversely,new listingactivity
inAugust was downas has been the caseeverymonthall year. New
MLS
®
listings coming tomarket inAugust reflecteda25%decrease
over August 2014with 350 listings reported compared to 469 last
year. Theonly threat to theongoing strength inarea sales appears to
be the lack of available housing inventory coming onto the market.
While we have seen significant sales increases every month during
2015, since the firstquarter, these increaseshavecontinued togetpro-
gressively smaller eachmonth.
MLS
®
dollar sales year-to-date of $546.6million reflects a22% in-
creaseover last yearwhileyear-to-dateunit salesareup15%.New list-
ing activity has decreased 16% from 2014with 3,247 newMLS
®
listings coming tomarket in2015 compared to3,880 last year. The
market hasdecidedly shiftedmore in favour of sellerswith those listing
theirproperties for sale finding themselveswith far fewercompeting list-
ings for potential buyers to choose from. Multipleoffers, a real estate
phenomena typically associatedwith the Torontomarket have been
happening inourareaonamuchmore frequent basis.
Year-to-dateMLS
®
single familyhomesalesareup16%withWasaga
Beachposting thestrongestdemandoutofallareamunicipalities.Single
familyhome sales inWasagaBeach through theendofAugust areup
30%compared tooneyearago.Results inotherpartsofourmarketare
mixed, with home sales in theMunicipality of Meaford up14%, the
BlueMountains up 11%, and Clearview Township ahead 6% over
2014. Single familyhome sales year-to-datearedown roughly2% in
bothGreyHighlands andCollingwood. Please keep inmind these re-
sults are forMLS
®
listedpropertiesmost ofwhichare re-sales anddo
not include salesmadebydevelopers for newhomes in thearea.
AreaMLS
®
condominiumsalesareup14% through theendofAugust
with324 sales reported in2015compared to285unit sales in the first
eightmonthsof2014. Thedemand for vacant landhasmadea strong
resurgence in2015withvacant land sales upahefty32%over2014
sales.
Sales ineveryprice rangeare showinggains over 2014but this is es-
pecially true from$300,000 to$500,000where sales are up35%
fromoneyearago. Asareapricescontinue to rise,weareseeing fewer
and fewerannual sales in the lowerprice ranges. Thisspeaks to thede-
mographics of thebuyers coming to this areawithmany coming from
somewhere in theGreaterTorontoArea insearchofasecondaryprop-
erty forweekenduseor those that arecominghere for eithera lifestyle
change or to retire. The 12-month average price for a single family
home in our market has risen to $342,800 in 2015 compared to
$324,900 this time last year an increaseof 5.5%. This increase inav-
erageprice isbeingdrivennot somuchby inflationbutby thesignificant
increase in thenumber of sales takingplace in theupper price ranges
of themarket.
Heading into the fallmarket andwithanother ski seasonapproaching,
I expect wewill see further sales gains but at a slower rate thanwhat
wehaveexperiencedduring the first8monthsof theyear.Asstatedear-
lier, theonlynegativeaspectaffectingsales right now isnot thealleged
presenceof a nation-wideor global recession, the uncertain outcome
of the upcoming federal election or other far reaching factors but the
sheer reduction inavailablehousing inventory tomeet theseemingly in-
satiabledemand forSouthernGeorgianBayarea real estate.
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Oh, and by theway…when the
snowmelts, you can use that same
property to enjoy the next season’s
activities. How great is that?
Themarket has decidedly shifted
more in favour of sellerswith those
listing their properties for sale finding
themselveswith far fewer competing
listings for potential buyers
to choose from.
ESCARPMENT
®
real estate
