After robust sales activity in the first 5 months of the year, area real estate sales softened in June. MLS® sales for the month as reported by the Georgian Triangle Association of REALTORS® (GTAR) were down 15% with a total of 166 properties being sold this past month versus 196 in June 2011. Dollar revenue for the month of $45.7 million represented a 20% decrease from the $57.2 million worth of properties sold through MLS® in June of last year.
MLS® sales activity reported through the GTAR (which includes the municipalities of Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands and Meaford) posted a gain of 9.7% for the 1st half of 2012 with 977 properties changing hands in the first six months of the year versus 891 in the 1st half of 2011. Overall, June Year-to-Date (YTD) sales volume in 2012 totaled $279.6 million reflecting a 4.5% increase over June YTD 2011 sales of $267.7 million.
Sales activity in several price ranges showed a marked improvement in the 2nd quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year. Sales in the bottom half of the market have been particularly strong which is encouraging to see. Unit sales below $250,000 totaled 297 in the 2nd quarter of 2012 marking a 13.4% increase over 2nd quarter 2011 results; in the $250,000 - $499,999 price range, 2nd quarter sales of 230 properties represented a 4.6% decrease over the 2nd quarter of 2011.
In the $500,000 - $999,999 price range, 2nd quarter sales of 43 properties reflected a 22.9% increase in this price range for 2012, compared to the 35 properties sold in the 2nd quarter of 2011. It should be noted however that sales between $700,000 to $800,000 and $900,000 and $1 million are running 36% and 85% respectively below last year. Likewise sales above $1.5 million are also weaker with just 2 sales in 2012 compared to 4 last year.
The number of new MLS® listings during the 2nd quarter of 2012 totaled 2,061 units, up 5.2% from the 2nd quarter of 2011. The number of expired listings year-to-date 2012 totaled 1421 properties, up 12.7% over the same period last year. First quarter's statistics reflect the fact that 1 in every 4 houses listed for sale actually sell.
In my next post I will review area sales by municipality.
