November Real Estate Sales Show Continued Strength

November real estate sales throughout Collingwood and the surrounding area continue to show impressive gains over the same months last year.

Unit sales for the month as reported through the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board totaled 165 properties sold versus the 87 sales that traded in November 2008, an increase of 90%. Sales revenue for the month was $47.7 million as compared to just $21.9 million a year ago.

Listing activity in 2009 continues to run at a decreased rate from last year, down 3% year-to-date with 182 fewer properties listed in the first 11 months of 2009 compared to the same period last year. This is starting to tip the scale between inventory and sales but despite strong sales activity, we still have a long way to go before market conditions favour sellers. Expired listings continue to reflect a year-over-year increase, up 10% year-to-date from last year. Year-to-date there have been 2,783 expired listings compared to 1,749 sales with the results being a ratio of 1.6 to 1 properties unsold versus sold. When expired listings exceed the number of properties sold, I feel this is a very telling statistic. Many sellers aided by their REALTORS® are failing to realistically list their homes at prices that reflect current market value. More on this in a future posting.

Overall we continue to see strength in our market and this trend will certainly continue through to the end of 2009. In my next posting I will provide details on sales in the various municipalities around the area. Tune in Thursday.