July 2023

This July has proven to be better than most for sellers. Typically properties that hit the market during the prime summer months (July & August) take several weeks to sell.  Not this summer,  if you listed earlier in July you were sold a week or so later.  And properties have been selling quickly and for good value.  The average price of a detached 2-storey home rose 5% from a year ago to $2,315,000.  We are closing in on the record highs of Spring 2022.

Other categories did well as well and the average time it took to sell was a relatively quick 22 days.

Detached bungalows averaged $1,974,500

Semi-detached $1,532,250

Condo THs      $1,260,333

Freehold THs   $1,172,619

Condo apartments  $843,000

and the rental market saw 81 properties leased similar to the 88 a year ago.

So the excitement in the market hasn't waned even with the recent interest rate increase. 

It appears there will be no down time in the market this summer.

June 2023

Ah summer is finally here and so far sales activity has been decent with 77 of the 184 sales in June selling in a week or less.  The average time it took to sell was 17 days the same as last month and still pretty brisk.  Sales volumes were similar to last year when 176 properties changed hands.

The average price of a detached 2-storey homes was $2,218,575 up 2.5% from a year ago and 2% from last month.  Bungalows sold for $1,669,000 down 1.5% while Freehold and condominium THs sold for $1,163,000 and $1,243,519, up 34% and 8%, respectively.  Semi-detached homes sold for $$1,310,200 up 21%.  Condo apartments sold for $794,455 down almost 10% from $872,360.  Two June 2022 sales over $2,000,000 attributed to this change.

Most sellers coming to market are not trying to create an auction but rather are trying to price their homes at the market while allowing 24 or 48 hours for the seller to reply to any offers.  This strategy can result in multiple bids. The last thing you want to do is have to raise the asking price after a failed auction attempt at a lower price.

The lease market is quite robust with prices up year over year.  The number of sales were halved with 51 properties renting.  Last year 104 rented.  Investors are certainly pleased with the increase returns they are making.

Interest rates will likely increase another 25 basis points later this month and that along with the normally slow summer time period should soften activity. 

May 2023

The tight market continues benefiting sellers more so than buyers and most properties are selling in just over 2 weeks on average or, 17 days.  226 properties were sold and 293 are currently available.

Detached 2-storey homes sold for just under $2.2mm ($2178198) that's up from just under $2mm a year ago or, almost 10%. When compared to April 2022 when the average selling price was $2419700 we are down 11% and also down 7% from this April 2023's $2322553 average.

Bungalows averaged $1696286 up slightly from may 2022's $1658333

The ultra luxury segment saw 13 homes sell at or above $3mm so that price point activity continues.

Rentals transactions were not as active as a year ago with 51 leases versus 73 however, more than half of those leased in a week or less, and went for full asking price.  Not as many multiple bids as we have recently seen this year.

The low unemployment rate high immigration numbers and limited resale listings as well as limited new home construction are all keeping the market expensive for buyers and good for sellers.

Expect activity to wain further over the summer months as it normally does and if we see another interest rate increase in the next month or so that should make the summer market quite soft.

 

April 2023

April was a very active month and an excellent time to sell for Sellers.  Buyers in many cases had to compete for the listing.  209 properties changed hands up from 198 a year ago.  So prices are creeping back up and properties on average moved in a brisk 19 days.

The average selling price for a detached 2-storey was $2322553 up slightly from March 2023's  $2.3mm and down slightly from a year ago when the average was $2419700.

Bungalows sales averaged $1658333 down about 3% from a year ago. So still not bad.

Condo apartments and townhomes sold on average for $731000 and $824138.  

Freehold townhomes averaged $1413250.  A couple of those townhome sales were for new construction units on the old hospital site in Olde Oakville which traded above $3mm. Without those the average sale price would have been closer to $1.3mm.

Semi detached homes sold for $1181000.

The rental market was active with 73 leases ranging in price from $2050-$8400/mth.  Like many property sales a number of leases got over their asking prices. 

Expect this trend to continue.

March 2023

March saw several multiple Offer sales transactions take place which boosted the average sale price for a detached 2-storey to be almost $2.3mm ($2,294,380), and in a very quick 20 days!  That's up 4% over February 2023 average sale price and down 18% from the peak pricing of March 2022.  There were 52 sales above $2,000,000 18 of which were above $3,000,000.  So prices are trending upwards and are a welcome surprise given the global economic environment.

Bungalows were up year over year by almost 12% to and average sale price of $1925411.  This activity was definitely not anticipated. So if you are contemplating selling the Spring market looks to impress.

The rental market was also active and with a few multiple bids as well and 94 properties leasing. They ranged in price form $2100/mth for a small 1 bedroom apartment in Westmount with 1 parking space to $10,750/mth for a Southwest Oakville executive home South of Lakeshore Road.

I expect this active market to continue for April and May and many sellers will benefit.

February 2023

Nice to see some quick activity coming back to the market.  The average time to sell took a relatively quick 25 days, 2 weeks faster than this January.  And several homes that have been lingering on the market for months started to move along with a number of new listing sales occurring in less than a week.

There were also 7 sales between three and four million dollars and five above $4,000,000.  Most of those buyers are more cash rich and are not as concerned about the current level of interest rates.

Year over year detached 2-storey homes were off approximately 15% while bungalows were down 5% to $2,208,257 and $1,286,000, respectively.  That's not bad considering prices had gone up 30% from early 2021 to 2022.

Condominium apartments averaged a healthy $1,074,579 but if you back out a $5.5mm condo sale it reduces the average to a more normal $828,722.

Rental properties were active as well with 69 leases ranging in price from $2250 to $7400/mth.  The highest lease sale was also on the market for sale in the mid two million dollar range but the position/location of the property proved to be a difficult sell so they ended up renting it.

Looks like it will be a very busy Spring market with a lot of sellers coming to market to satisfy the waiting buyers.

January 2023

There were 6 more sales this January than in January 2022 however the time to sell was almost 7 weeks on average compared to under 2 weeks a year ago.  A year ago everything went in multiple offers and today buyers have time to make a decision and without any competition.

Less buyer competiton = less frustration. 

Still many buyers are reluctant to place an offer after their first visit as many feel prices may drop further. Some sales occur after two or three visits.  Our president Phil Soper believes that prices will level off this year as long as there are not many more interest rate increases and that we will probably not see any interest rate cuts until 2024.  We may see a couple more 25 basis point interest rate bumps between now and summer.

Inventory is still low but the number of new listings is inching up.  At the moment we have 230 properties (all types) listed for sale along with 123 rental properties.  So there is some choice. 

This January we had 84 sales up from 65 in December 2022 and 78 a year ago. We also had 54 rental transactions.

Here's a quick look at the numbers;

                                                  Jan 2023                    Jan 2022                 Dec 2022

Detached 2-storey                   $1854938                   $2059000                 $1933233

Det bungalow                          $1341500                    $1608000

Freehold THs                           $923500                      $980792

Condo THs                              $866300                      $866111

Split level homes                    $1502500

Semi-detached                        $1096500                    $1179000

Condo apartments                   $1460167                    $621852  

The high condo average this January was attributed to two ultra luxury apartment sales which totalled $8.3 million and sold for approximately $1250 per square foot.  There were only 2 split level home sales this January.

As you can see detached 2-storey homes were down 11% year over year while bungalows were down approximately 20%.  Condo townhomes were flat, freehold THs were off 6% and semi-detached homes were down about 7.5%.

Most consumers by now have had all their COVID-19 vaccine shots and as a result many agents are now doing open houses for their sellers.  As more new inventory comes to market along with warmer weather you will have more buyers viewing homes and this will help support sales prices.