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SPRING
2016
Have I covered it?Not even close, but Deenaonly givesme somuch
space.Our top5 reasonsareclearly resonatingwithpeople. Howdo
I know?Themomentumweexperienced in the local real estatemarket
in2015has carriedover into2016withyear-to-datearea real estate
sales to theendof Februarypostinga significant gainover the first two
monthsof last year.
UnitMLS
®
salesas reportedby theSouthernGeorgianBayAs-
sociationof REALTORS
®
for the first twomonths of 2016are up26%
with288salesmadecompared to229 lastyear. MLS
®
dollarvolume is
upevenhigher reflectinga30% increasewith$106million inproperties
sold year-to-date.Whiles sales in Januarywereequal to theprior year.
MLS
®
unitanddollar sales inFebruarywereupahealthy44%and55%
respectively. It isworthnoting thatdue to the severityof lastwinter, sales
during the first twomonthsof2015weredepresseddue tobadweather
anddriving conditionsmakingproperty showings difficult andon some
occasions theability toget here fromoutside theareaall but impossible.
Theweather thiswinterhasbeen thepolaropposite thushelping tobetter
facilitate real estate showings thus stimulating salesactivity.
Aswe havementionedpreviously, with a healthy economy,
low interest ratesandpositiveconsumerconfidence, theonlysignificant
threat toarea real estate sales is theapparent lackof inventory.
Despitea15% increase inMLS
®
unit sales during2015, the
number of newMLS
®
listings that came tomarket in2015was down
15%. Thissame trendhascarriedover into2016withnewMLS
®
listing
activitydown14% for the first twomonthsof theyear. For sellers, there
has never beenabetter time to list their homes for sale.While less fre-
quent than a fewmonths ago, multiple offers are still prevalent, espe-
cially in thehighdemand lower price ranges.Overall, strongpricesat
all levelsof themarketarebeingpaid forproperties thatarewellpriced
andpresent themselves favourably.
Year-to-dateMLS
®
salesareparticular strong in the$200K to
$500Kprice ranges.MLS
®
unit salesbetween$200Kand$350Kare
up42% through theendof Februarywith128properties sold,
sales of 61properties in the$350K to$500K ranges also reflects a
42% increaseover the first twomonthsof last year. Salesof properties
in theupperendprice rangescontinue to remainvery robust especially
in the$800K to$1million rangewithyear-to-datesalesof7properties
compared top just 3 in the same time period last year. Sales over $1
million are slightly aheadof 2015with 8MLS
®
sales reported com-
pared to7during the first twomonthsof2015.
Year-to-dateMLS
®
single familyhome salesareup15% to the
endof February, condominium sales are running slightlyaheadof last
year up3%while vacant land sales have risen56%. Vacant land sales
during thepastyearhave turnedaroundsignificantlynodoubtdue inpart
to the lackofavailablehousing inventory listed for sale.
In terms ofMLS
®
listed residential single family home sales,
not all areamunicipalities are experiencing the same degree of de-
mand.ClearviewTownship isexperiencingavery strongdemandwith
year-to-date sales of 19 homes reflectinga137% increase over last
year. Sales inWasaga Beach are up 70%while Collingwood has
posteda14% increase.Year-to-date,MLS
®
single familyhome sales in
all otherareamunicipalitiesarebelowwhere theywereat this time last
year.MunicipalityofMeafordsalesaredown64%,GreyHighlands is
-50%and sales in the BlueMountains are down29% fromone year
ago. Ofcourse, it shouldbenoted thatwithonly2monthsof salesbeing
examined todate, thedata sampling is very small, andwe should not
hangour hat on these trends staying steady.
With springarriving, wewill see the typical seasonal upturn
inMLS
®
listingactivity.ManySellers firmlybelieve theirpropertyshows
more favourably in thebetterweather,and rightlyso.Hopefully thecom-
ingmonthswill seeacloser relationshipofnew listings tosales. The lack
of properties listed for sale is theonly real threat we currently see that
couldcauseadecrease in thevolumeof traded real estate in theSouth-
ernGeorgianBayarea.
|E|
Themomentumwe experienced in the
local real estatemarket in2015 has
carried over into2016with year-to-date
area real estate sales to the end of
February posting a significant gain over
the first twomonths of last year.
