133
WINTER
2017
|
Whatarewe forecasting for2017? Hard to say. Ihowever,ambullish
oncontinuedgrowth. Historic low inventory,questionsaboutmortgage
qualificationand thepotentialof rising interest ratesaside,peoplewant
tobe here.We continue to seemigration indiverseage categories to
our area. Youknow it isawesomeuphereand sodoothers. I thinkde-
mographicsare, fornow,on thesideofcontinuedgrowth. AsDr.David
Foot stated inhisbookBoom,Bust,Echo, realestate isaffected farmore
by demographics than it is by economics and our market is a strong
benefactorof thatmarket dynamic.We shall see.
TheMarket:
Due to the timeof publishing this report, weare relyingon endofNo-
vember 2016data, but the trendswere unmistakeable. Sales of area
real estate traditionally start to taperoffaswenear theholiday season.
However, the endof last year was exceptional and sales showed no
signsofabatingas theyearclosed.Sales inNovemberof$84.3million
representeda54% increaseoverNovember2015when sales for the
month totalled$54.9million. Asmentionedabove,MLS
®
dollar sales
exceeded$1billion for2016withsales to theendNovember standing
at$990million for theyearas reportedby theSouthernGeorgianBay
Association of REALTORS (SGBAR). Year-to-dateMLS
®
unit sales for
the first elevenmonths of 2016 totaled2,626properties, an increase
of16%over theprior year.
MLS
®
sales of single family homes year-to-dateat the endofNo-
vember totaled1,926,an increaseof16%over2015. Similarly,area
condominium saleswerealsovery robust for the same timeperiodwith
522MLS
®
sales representinga15% increaseover2015. During2016
wealso saw strong sales activity in vacant landwhichmayhavebeen
in part due to the lack of available housing inventory. Year-to-date
through the end of November therewere 279 vacant lot sales com-
pared to219 in the first elevenmonthsof2015, an increaseof27%.
Inmost real estatemarkets acrossCanada,MLS
®
saleswere far
outpacing the inventoryofMLS
®
listedproperties for sale.NewMLS
®
listings inour localmarketarea throughNovember totaled3,805prop-
erties,which is9% fewer newMLS
®
listings that came tomarket in the
sameperiod in theprevious year. A16% increase inMLS
®
sales com-
binedwitha9%decrease in newMLS
®
listings clearlyplaced the ne-
gotiationadvantage to sellers.
Virtuallyeverymunicipality inourmarket area saw year-over-year
increases in single familyhome, cottageor chalet sales. Somewhat sur-
prisingly,ClearviewTownshipcontinued to leadallareamunicipalities
in terms of the largest increase in single family home sales year-over-
yearwith197 sales through theendof August representinga31% in-
crease over 2015. Single family home sales inWasagaBeachwere
up16% last year with622MLS
®
sales reportedas at the endofNo-
vember. Sales of single family homes in Collingwood were up 7%
through the endof November while sales in both theMunicipality of
MeafordandGreyHighlandswereup23%. LastlyMLS
®
single family
home sales in theBlueMountainswereupamodest2%with204 sales
reported.
|E|
We continue to seemigration
in diverse age categories to our area.
You know it is awesome up here
and so do others.
