August 2022

We may just have an active Fall market given the recent luxury property quick sales.

Even though many buyers are waiting to see where prices will settle, some families are going ahead with their moving plans because they realize that over time home prices will eventually rebound and they want to get on with their lives.  It does make sense for first time buyers to wait a little longer, but for those moving up or down they can continue on with their plans because what they are selling or buying will be similarly effected.

A less than 5 year old new build went in 1 day for full price as did a couple of high end downtown condo apartments one fetching $5.5 million.

This is a pleasant surprise given the lacklustre proceeding months activity.  

The average price for a detached 2-storey home was up approximately 3.5% to $2,366,524 and most homes and condo's sold in less than 30 days.

For sale and for lease volumes are still low at 88 and 70 for the month, respectively.

The average sale price for a detached bungalow was surprisingly above $2mm a big jump from the $1.6 range a year ago. 

The 2 greater than $3mm downtown Oakville condo apartments that sold increased the average sale price to over $1.4mm.

Freehold and condo townhomes sold for $1,083,000 and $807,375 while semi detached average a sale price of $1,311,167.

September will likely be active.

July 2022

Although the market has slowed down we are still seeing sales occur,  50 detached 2-storey homes sold during the month along with 10 bungalows and 17 condo apartments.

On the rental side there were 88 homes and condos leased ranging in price from $2200-$5000/mth with 2 fancy downtown condos fetching almost $15000/mth. That's down from 100 transactions a year earlier. Investors are achieving top dollar from their rental properties.

Detached 2-storey homes are holding on to the $2.1mm & $2.2mm average selling range and were up by almost 3% year over year to $2207000 as well as June 2022 average selling price of $2152000.

The average detached bungalow and condo apartment went for  $1509000 and $951000, respectively.

It is taking longer to sell by almost 2 weeks and those sellers who do sell are having to price their properties sharply to achieve a sale in a reasonable time period.

The good news is that the market is still up when comparing sale prices to a year ago but with high inflation and more increases in interest rates on the horizon it stands to reason that sale prices will drop further.

JUNE 2022

Buyer's finally have time to decide what to buy without worrying about being in competition.  It is now a buyer's market.  This is especially good for first time buyers.  It's nice to have the time to make an important decision.  With rates on the rise and still somewhat limited choice the market still presents a challenge. 

The Seller's market pretty much ended in the beginning of April and became more balance through May.  Seller's who sold in February and March caught the peak selling period where just about everything that sold had multiple bids.

More offers are including the sale of the purchaser's property condition to hedge the buyer against the difficulty in selling their own home. The number of showing has dried up as consumers wait and see where the market will end up.  A very similar trend is happening in the stock market.  Many investors are sitting on their cash waiting to see how low the indexes will go. 

A number of seller's who have recently sold have accepted much lower bids in order to secure a sale.    Many were more than 10% lower than their asking price.  In actual dollars this can be in the $200,000 and $300,000 below their initial list price.

The average price of a detached 2-storey home was $2152400 still above June 2021's $1969300 by about 9% but significantly down from March 2022 $2.7mm.  In a normal market 9% year over year is quite acceptable.  

Sales volumes were way down by less than half.  A lot of people are holding off on any relocation plans.

In June 2021 60 homes sold for more than $3,000,000.  This June had only 12 sales.

The rental market is doing better with about a 20% gain in prices to an average of $3500 compared to $2900 a year ago.  Sales volumes were down 30% year over year.

Summer is normally a slow period for real estate.  We may be in for a much slower remainder of the year. 

April & May 2022

There is a definite shift in the market to a more balanced playing field with more and more buyers being able to purchased something without facing competition.  Listings are up slightly and the number of showings seem to be waning.  Thus taking more time to sell. 

Future interest rate hikes will not improve things and those with variable mortgages and lines of credit will be faced with higher carrying costs.  The number of sales is also soft.  So the upcoming summer real estate activity is not looking too rosy.

The average price of a detached 2 storey home was below the two million dollar mark in May but at a healthy $2419700 in April for a two month average of just under $2.2mm. That's down from March 2022 $2.7mm.

Detached bungalows traded at $1535647 down form April's $1711208.  Condo apartments averaged $845272 last month.

The rental market is also very tight with not a lot of choice for renters and sales volumes are about half of what they were a year ago.

March 2022

The sellers market continues with most owners attempting to attract multiple bids and being successful.  Many of those sellers who do not attract multiple bids end up having to increase their asking prices, which is not ideal situation.  Others set the initial asking price at the market to avoid any price increase should the auction attempt fail.

Even though interest rates are on the rise and the foreign investment property tax has recently been increased by 5 percentage points to 20%, we are still seeing prices edge up.  

The average price of a detached 2-storey home was $2.7mm up 34% from March 2021's average.  23 homes sold above $3,000,000 with 10 of those selling above $4,000,000.  The highest sale was for a one acre Southeast estate property with riparian rights which sold for $18.2mm.  Backing out that sale reduces the average price to $2,584,000 and the year over year price increase to approximately 27%.  Still incredible.

The real estate market like the stock market is unpredictable.  Rising interest rates will deplete the pool of potential buyers.

We should see more empty nesters that need their home equity to improve their financial situation come to market and take advantage of these exorbitant selling prices.

February 2022

Interesting times with interest rate hikes likely starting tomorrow and war between Russia and the Ukraine.  It's hard to say what impact that will have on us and the rest of the world, but it looks to be a negative one.

In the meantime, our market has remained strong and prices are still high. 

The detached 2-storey home price although up year over year by 30% has dropped slightly month over month from this January by 5% to $2535000.

We are seeing more properties who attempt to acquire multiple bids fail in their attempt.  And those homes where the seller and agent felt that their asking price was below market/listed very sharply have had to increase their list prices. Not always a good thing and this combined with the slight drop in price could be the beginning of a shift to a more balanced market. 

The ultra luxury segment, those's above $4,000,000 saw 8 sales during the month with the highest selling for $11,500,000.   In addition, there were 9 sales between three and four million dollars.

The rental market was reasonably active with 77 transactions ranging from $1950 a month for an older 644SF apartment and $9050/mth for a trendy lakefront townhouse.

January 2022

The seller's market continues, with most homes no matter the price point, are attracting multiple bids.

Lack of inventory is still the main issue however, as the weather starts to warm up and COVID-19 vaccinated numbers cross 90%, more homes will come to market and more shoppers will as well.

Case in point we only have 78 properties for sale (all types) on the market at the time of this posting (Feb 2, 2022). Last January saw 407 properties change hands compared to 99 this year.

Year over year average price results are as follows;

    Type                              Jan 2021                      Jan 2022                 % change

Det 2-storey                    $2059000                     $2681100                     +30%

Det Bungalow*              $1608000                      $1873545                     +16%

Semi-detached                $1179000                     $1533000                      +30%

Freehold THs                   $980792                      $1511538                      +54%

Condo THs                       $866111                      $1130000                      +30%

Condo apts                       $621852                      $893688                        +43%

*Detached split level homes will have similar results to detached bungalows as most of those buyers want the land to build a new home. 

Buyers remain frustrated with having to compete for properties and that won't get any easier with impending interest rate hikes coming in the near future.

If we see the number of rate increases we expect this year some homeowners may feel the pinch and have to sell.  This added inventory could lead to a more balanced market.