Area Real Estate Sales Volume Slips 11% in 3rd Quarter

Area real estate sales reported through the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board slowed during the 3rd quarter of 2010 versus the same period last year. Lingering concerns about the strength of the current economic recovery, interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada and the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario were no doubt all contributing factors to the 3rd quarter slow down

  MLS® statistics for the month of September reflect a softening in both listing and sales activity vs September 2009. A total of 584 properties were listed on the local MLS® system in September 2010 vs 616 in September 2009, a decrease of 5.2%, 169 properties sold in Sept. 2010 vs 188 in Sept. 2009, a decrease of 10.2%.  Overall sales volume was $47,189,150 in Sept. 2010 vs $51,358,520 in Sept. 2009 a decrease of 8.2%.

  During the 3rd quarter, MLS® unit sales activity dropped 14.7%, with 532 properties selling this year compared to 624 sales in the 3rd quarter of 2009. Total 3rd quarter MLS® sales volume was $149,135,752 which represents a 10.9% decrease over the $167,356,079 worth of properties sold in the 3rd quarter of 2009.  Virtually all price segments saw a drop in sales activity during ther 3rd quarter with the exception of the upper end of our market.  Properties in the $500,000 - $999,999 range exhibited an increase of 9.8% in number of sales while 3rd quarter sales in $1 million + range this year totaled 8 compared to 5 sales in $1 million+ sales during the 3rd quarter of 2009.  Sales below $250,000 posted the biggest decline year-over-year down 20.2% from the same quarter last year.  This segment of the market is the one perhaps most vulnerable to increased mortage rates and these results indicate that.
  For the first nine months of 2010, a total of 1,516 properties have changed hands year-to-date surpassing the 1,390 properties sold in the same period last year, an increase of 9.1%. MLS® sales volume for the first nine months of 2010 totals $430,145,706 which represents a 20.3% increase over $357,509,894 worth of properties sold in the first nine months of last year.  Again, year-to-date sales below $250,000 is the only segment of the market showing a decline with sales down 5.5% vs the same period last year.
  Market activity is forecasted to remain steady for the balance of the year.  The aforementioned statistics pertain to resale property activity reported throught the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board and do not include private sales, new home sales made by developers etc. These sales combined with the MLS® activity reported above reflects the strength we continue to see in our market despite the weaker activity of the 3rd quarter.  It would appear that we can expect interest rates to remain stable for the foreseeable future and there remains a good selection of properties on the market for buyers to choose from.  The biggest question that remains pertaining to future market activity is the the strength of our economy and the impact it will have on consumer confidence moving forward.