About Town - Great Places to see the Lake in Oakville

Here's one of the best spots to see Lake Ontario in Oakville. Go south on Raymar Place right to the lake. These are the old steps and sea wall from the former Raymar Estate - great views.

Nov ' 07 versus Nov ' 08

The difficult and quiet times continue. There were 122 Oakville sales this November compared to 308 sales in November 2007. That represents more than a 60% sales volume decrease. 82 of these Nov '08 sales were for homes priced below $500,000. First time buyers are picking up some very good deals.

The average sales price for November was $552,500 down approximately 11 % from Octobers year to date selling average of $625,000.

There were 55 rental sales during the month and there are over 200 available rental homes and apartments as at November month end.

Early Morning Walk with Future Guide Dog Archer

Barbara & I have this little guy for 2 more weeks. He's a 4 month old standard poodle that we're fostering.

October 2008 versus October 2007

This October has certainly felt the effects of a difficult global economy. Oakville sales volumes were down 40% at 181 sales from 304 in October 2007. While the average sale price has fallen over 11% to $474,000 from $527,000.

We are definitely in a buyers market. First time buyers can enjoy alot of choice and not have the added stress of having to coordinate the sale of a property. Homes trading under $500,000 have represented the bulk of these October sales with the median sales price dropping to $390,000 from $435,000.

Of course the impact of the stock market has caused the higher end homes sales to soften. People are just staying put unless they have to make a move. Showings have virtually dried up. Similarly seniors are facing the financial crunch as well and in many cases are finding it difficult to make a move to a retirement home as a result of the lower values of their RRIFs and non registered savings.

There are ways to hedge yourself should you wish to make a move in this market. You can include the sale of your existing home as a condition in an Offer. There is a good chance that the Seller will accept it. You can also negotiate a longer than the normal 60 to 90 day closing period to allow you additional time to sell your home. For those who bought before the market fell and are still trying to sell their existing home you may consider renting your new home out to gain some income while you complete the sale of your existing home. Although there are more rental choices, the number of rental sales year over year has remained the same at just over 40 for October for the Town of Oakville.

October Month-End Update

If you think the stock market activity of late is the only gloomy news take a look at the following activity in the Oakville Real Estate market. Sales volumes are down 60% since September 1st and there are almost four times as many active listings to choose from.

On September 1st there were 345 listings for sale and that number has ballooned to 1,241. 237 homes did sell in September and so far this month(to October 29th) there have been 145 sales. At least we are seeing sales activity albeit at significantly lower volumes and sale prices.

Prices are trending down and are off approximately 10% on average.

On the lease front there were 37 homes/apts for lease on September 1st and now there are approximately 5 times as many with the count at 204. Like homes for sale the average time on the market is over 2 months. A number of people who have bought and have not sold their home are hedging themselves by offering one of their properties for lease.

Looks like we are in for a bumpy ride for the next year or so.

Welcome All!

I'm trying something new - I've joined the world of Bloggers. Even if you're not buying or selling a house right now - knowing a little about what is going on in the market can be useful. So, every week, or more often if there's something that I want to talk about I'll post here about what's going on in the Oakville Real Estate Market and of course talk about some of my listings.

I think if you own or are looking for a home here you're concerned about what's happening with the real estate market here in Oakville. In a nutshell - sales are much softer. Looking at September 08/07 sales volumes were down 21% - which is substantial. The average sale price is up 6% for all of Oakville to $497K - however, taking out one house sale of $5MM from the total - the average is actually flat ($468K).

Oakville is divided into 14 different real estate areas - in 5 of these areas (Central Oakville, College Park, River Oaks, Sherwood Heights and West Oakville) prices have actually dropped about 10%.

Houses are taking longer to sell as well - 40 days this year, vs 35 last September on average. And, in the areas in Morrison, Ford, Oakville, Wedgewood Creek and Southwest Oakville it's taking upwards of 2 months to sell.

All this being said, homes are selling - just slower.