Area Real Estate Sales Rebound in May

  Area real estate sales in May posted some strong if not unexpected gains over May of 2012, the question remains can it be sustained?

  Unit sales for the month of May as reported through the MLS® system of the Georgian Triangle Association of REALTORS®, reflected a 7% gain over the number of properties sold one year ago. A total of 216 properties sold throughout the area in May compared to 202 in May of last year. Dollar volume for the month was $66.2 million up a healthy 20% from the $55.4 million worth of properties sold through MLS® in May 2012. The high dollar volume gain was driven by increased sales of properties priced $350,000 and higher. Four sales from $800,000 to over $1.5 million were reported in May whereas there were no sales in this price range during May of last year. 

  Year-to-date single family home sales continue to lag behind 2012. To the end of May, 545 single family MLS® home sales have been made which is a drop of 3% from the 561 single family homes sold in the first 5 months of 2012. Conversely, MLS® condominium sales total 137 units which represents an

increase of almost 4% over last year while vacant land sales which have been

lackluster for the past couple of years are up 27%.

 

  Notwithstanding the fact that year-to-date MLS® unit sales are up 3% and total dollar sales reflect a 5% increase from last year, most area municipalities are seeing individual residential sales in 2013 that are below those for the first five months of 2012. MLS® residential sales in the Blue Mountains are up 25% to the end of May while Wasaga Beach is showing just over a 2% increase. Other year-to-date sales results by municipality are as follows: Collingwood -2% Township of Clearview -5%, Municipality of Meaford -6% and Grey Highlands -30%.

 

  While there is still an abundance of properties listed for sale. The number of new MLS® listings that have come to market this year totals 2,961 individual properties, a drop of 5% over the same period last year. At the same time, the number of expired listings has increased by 4% with many sellers electing to take their properties off the market for the present time.  This has lead to more balanced market conditions overall which should continue for the balance of the year.