After a somewhat soft sales month in March, real estate activity through the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board (GTREB)thus far in April appears to be running at a pace relatively consistent with April of last year. Several things are undoubtedly holding the market back a bit right now one is the weather and to some degree, the upcoming federal election.
Weather definitely plays a role in our market as it has a bearing on the weekend traffic we attract to the area. Skiing is essentially over and with the current cold snowy weather, golf and other recreational activities associated with spring are not yet underway so we are definitely in the mid-season doldrums. We see this reduced traffic through weak attendance at Open Houses and in reduced showing requests for listed properties.
Historically, any pending election will certainly impact the buying decisions of many consumers contemplating a major purchase. A change in government may lead to economic, taxation or other changes creating a cautionary mood that shifts buyers into "neutral."
Another factor impacting our market activity is the pace of sales in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as a good portion of today's buyers are coming from the GTA and other parts south of us. In speaking with clients on the weekend that reside in Toronto, the market there has temporarily slowed as well and until that improves, the impact will continue to resonate up here. Further, due to the recreational nature of our market, a good portion of real estate sales in this area are discretionary in nature so often tere is no sense of urgency with buyers to purchase.
As I have told seller clients on numerous occasions, we can't create buyers. We endeavour to implement the most aggressive marketing plan we can in order to expose a property to potential buyers but those buyers have to be our there. In some cases at certain points in time buyers are noticeably absent and often through conditions or circumstances beyond the control of any of us.
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