The Bank of Canada cut it's key overnight interest rate by a quarter of a point today and it will be interesting to see how that may or may not impact our real estate market in the Collingwood - Blue Mountain area.
In the meantime, the November MLS® statistics from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board are in and sales volumes continue to exceed 2006 levels as expected.
Here are some highlights for the month of November:
- there were a total of 164 sales posted for the month compared to 136 in November ‘06
- 135 of these sales were residential with the balance being farms (11), vacant land (14) and commercial (4).
- The dollar value of all sales for the month was 51.2 million; up a substantial 48% over last November. This is due in part to low dollar volumes in November '06 combined with several upper tier sales this November
- Residentially, 38% of sales were in the $150,000 to $250,000 price range and 25% were priced from $250,000 to $350,000.
- There were 20 sales over $500,000 last month versus 11 in November '06. Are we seeing a resurgence in the upper tier market?
Year-to-date compared to 2006:
- Dollar Volumes are up 17%
- The number of properties sold is up 11%
- The number of properties listed on the MLS® system is up 7%
- The number of listings expired (those that did not sell) is up by 4%
- There are currently a total of 1572 active listings in the Georgian Triangle Multiple Listings®
Sales-to-listings ratios:
This ratio is a key market indicator and is made up of the number of properties sold versus the number listed for sale. A ratio below 40% is considered a buyer's market, over 50% if considered to be a seller's market and between 40-50% a balanced market.
So far in 2007, the ratio has been climbing each month and currently sits 42.6%, up from 39.3% in June, and ahead of last year at this time when it was 40%. It is worth noting that the ratio for the month of November only was just 47.4%. Strongest performance year-to-date continues to be in the Meaford market where the YTD ratio is at 58% while the lowest performance has been in the town of the Blue Mountains at just 31%. This is a reflection of the very different markets and average price points of those two communities. Only Meaford and Wasaga Beach have sale to listing ratios in the Sellers market range and the balance of communities in our area are in the neutral 40-50% range.
Prices:
The average sale prices of residential properties are up in most individual communities and currently, the average residential sale price for the Georgian Triangle area as a whole is sitting at $286,933. At this point in 2006, the average sale price was $270,085. The highest average sale price continues to be in the Town of the Blue Mountains at $462,000 YTD and for the lowest average price is in Collingwood at $242,533. The average residential sales price in Wasaga Beach is currently $247,400 and in Meaford, it sits at $248,712.
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