I blogged about Quinte real estate statistics in March, and apparently the local real estate market has been on a lot of people's minds. I received quite a few emails from people who asked for clarification about the numbers. Some of them were from people who have their properties listed for sale, while others were from people who were merely curious. It's actually the first time one of my statistical posts received any kind of response, so I'm going to the well one more time (at least).
Are the residential sales numbers in Quinte down? Well, y
es they are, a significant drop from last year indeed. If you remember last year, we had a gorgeous March and a very early spring. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but the weather does play a significant part in the market (which is why we have a "spring market" in the first place). In a more historical context though, it's not that this last March was so incredibly bad, it's just that March 2012 was a very active month. The March 2013 sales were a little glum, but no cause for panic.
When we hold the entire first quarter's numbers up to previous years, you'll see that while 2013 lags far behind 2012, we are not that far off the numbers for previo
us years, so if anyone has the perception that the bottom is dropping out of the market (or some other similar phrases I've heard bandied about), it's really not justified. Sure, sales are slower than last year, but better than 2011 and 2009.
Real estate is a local business, so the picture painted by the entire Quinte real estate board figures do not apply to every area. Q1 residential sales numbers are actually up in Cramahe, Madoc, Trent Hills, Prince Edward County, Tweed, and Tyendinaga. The big drops are in the more urban areas of Quinte West and Belleville, both areas experiencing a significant drop in sales from last year, but those figures will be the subject of my next blog post, I have to keep readers coming back.
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