Collingwood Sales Up 73% in 2012

As per my last post, area real estate sales have gotten off to a relatively strong start to 2012 with MLS® unit sales up 21% and dollar revenue ahead 13% compared to the first two months of 2011. As per the accompanying graph, most area municipalities and seeing an increase in unit sales activity with the exception of the Blue Mountains where sales year-to-date are down 3 units or 25%.

  The Town of Collingwood is the bigger winner re: increased sales activity this year. Unit sales in the Town are up 73% for the first two months of 2012 compared to the same period last year. Even the Municipality of Meaford and Grey Highlands are posting sales increases of 40% and 133% respectively and while their unit sales are much less in number this is encouraging given the fact these two municipalities saw sales shortfalls of 20% to 25% in 2011 versus 2010.

  New housing developments continue to impact the resale market in the area and for the most part, new home sales are not made through MLS® hence the above results do not represent sales made by developers. In Collingwood some of the increased MLS® sales activity is the result of new homes in areas such as Georgian Meadows, Creekside and others now coming onto the market as “resales.” The same applies in Wasaga Beach and other areas as well where there has been the prolific building of new homes in recent years. Not surprisingly, a significant contributor to the increase in unit sales is happening in the $300,000 to $500,000 range which is where the pricing in many new home developments falls.

  Pricing for the most part across the area has been relatively stable since the 2008 recession. I refuse to dwell on the subject of “average residential price.” From month-to-month we see significant swings in unit sales across the various price ranges and this constant change in sales mix affects average residential prices significantly. Typically, the Blue Mountains often has the highest average residential price driven by the fact that this municipality houses many of the higher end condominiums and single family homes in the area because of their close proximity to area ski clubs and gold courses. Too often, monthly or annual changes in average residential prices are misconstrued by consumers as being an increase or reduction in home prices as a whole which is just not the case.  For pricing information relatively to your specific property please do not hesitate to contact me rickcrouch@propertycollingwood.com