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. 

December 2021

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It appears that the Omicron variant will become more of a concern as we roll through the Winter months given the recent daily increases in infections.  And more cases are expected even as the country clamps down once again on social activity.  Thankfully most of the population have had 2 vaccines and many are eagerly awaiting their booster shot.  We all must act responsibly.

Real Estate has continued to be active with selling prices still increasing and inventory remains low. Business will continue on a more stringent Covid-19 showing protocol especially during the temporary lock down period.

Detached 2-storey and bungalows rose 31% and 16%, respectively to $2375000 and $1619000.

There were 95 sales during the month for all types of housing (condo's...) and it took almost 2 weeks to sell them.  Detached 2-storeys made up 30 of those sales and only 3 bungalows changed hands during the month.

The rental market is in line with last year's sales volume with approximately 50 leases.

Royal LePage predicts 2022 price increases in the 8-10% range in many neighborhoods in Canada.

Stay safe!

Nov 2021

This Seller's market is incredible!

Homes and condo's sold in under 9 days this month with the majority of those seller's attempting auction/multiple bids, being successful and therefore the extraordinary swift sales results.

Here's the average sales price breakdown by housing type year over year;

                                           Nov'21.                             Nov '20

Det 2-storey.                   $2252000                            $1782000

Det bungalow                 $1663000                            $1140000

Condo apts                     $781000                               $610000

Condo THs                     $864000                               $721000

Freehold THs                 $1395000                             $882000

Semi-det                         $1261000                             $954000

Detached 2-storey homes were up almost 1/2 a point from last month (Oct' 21) and 43% year over year.

Detached bungalows were up 46%

C-apts gained 28%

C-THs were up almost 20%

F-THs were up 58% and

Semi detached gained 32%

Usually semi-detached homes cost more on average than freehold townhomes.  This November in Central Oakville there were a few high end FH THs (one of which sold for $3,000,000) sales which resulted in this change in ranking.

Inventory remains very low with only 105 homes and condo's available for sale. A year ago there were 416.  Expect no let up in this activity.