Winter's Cold Grips Our Local Real Estate Market

Our adverse winter weather is continuing to have an impact on local real estate sales and while activity improved significantly in February, year-to-date sales remain well behind last year.

Sales reported through the MLS® system of the Southern Georgian Bay Association of REALTORS® in February reflected a 3% decrease from one year ago with 122 properties selling during the month compared to 126 last year.  February’s dollar volume however was up 11% due to an increase in higher price home sales.  Sales in several price ranges between $500,000 and $1 million posted significant gains over last year leading to the higher dollars among 

lower unit sales.

  Year-to-date MLS® unit sales for the first two months of the year are down 14% with 205 properties changing hands compared to 239 in 2013.  MLS® dollar sales for the year of $65.9 million are down 9% year to date.  Sales activity in 2014 is also lagging behind the first two months of 2012 with MLS® unit and dollar sales down 5% and 7% respectively.

With the exception of Grey Highlands which is showing an increase of 67% in MLS® units sales year-to-date, every other area municipality are lagging behind 2013 and weather appears to be the culprit.  Severely cold temperatures, excessive snowfall and road closures have resulted in cancelled property showings leading to less activity and reduced sales overall.  On a year-to-date basis, single family home and condominium unit sales are both down 19% from one year ago.  Conversely, we have seen some renewed interest from Buyers looking for vacant land as lot sales are up 38% this year with 22 MLS® sales reported compared to 16 after the first two months of 2013.     

  As in prior months, we continue to see a reduction in the number of new listings coming to market and expired listings are also down as well.  The monthly listings-to-sales ratio for February reflects a somewhat balanced market, and while with only being two months into the year this is not reflected in the year-to-date results, I anticipate that overall, stable market conditions will prevail through the balance of 2014.  Within certain areas and price ranges there will be exceptions.  As of this posting there are 102 active listings on our local MLS® system for properties priced above $1 million.  Based on the rate of sales for properties of this value, that represents approximately 48 months worth of available inventory.  With this amount of housing stock, sellers of properties priced above $1 million can expect much longer days-on-market and pricing expectations may have to be tempered.

Whether you are buying or selling, I am well versed in all aspects of our market so as to effectively assist you.  Please do not hesitate to contact me for a confidential no obligation discussion about your particular real estate circumstance.