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Quiet May for regional home sales

Home sales down, average prices up and listings in short supply
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Toronto-based brokerage Zoocasa has complied a list of the provinces most and least affordable cities in which to live. (File)

Home sales in the region were quiet in May, but that’s a direct result of a short supply of new listings.

That’s according to the MLS statistical information for May 2018 for the Southern Georgian Bay region.

“Sales activity was once again running at below-average levels in May; however, the number of listings out there for sale is still extremely low by historical standards,” said Matthew Lidbetter, president of the Southern Georgian Bay Association of Realtors in a news release. “For that reason, it is hard to know whether the current state of the local housing market os more of a demand story or a supply story.”

Indeed, sales have been lower each month in 2018 than in 2017. There was a small bounce-back in March 2018, but the number of units sold in March 2018 was still 35.8 per cent lower than March 2017. However, 2017 broke several monthly sales records by a large margin.

“On the supply side, listings remain historically low across the Southern Georgian Bay region, which likely contributed to the double-digit, year-over-year average price growth seen across the region in March,” said Lidbetter.

There were 320 units sold in the region in May 2018, which is a decline of 32.6 per cent over last year’s May sales, which were historically strong. The dollar value for residential transactions in May was $158.5 million, which is 27.5 per cent lower than the record-breaking levels seen in May 2017. Year-to-date, there have been 1,154 units sold, which is a decrease of 32.3 per cent from last year.

In the western region (including Wasaga Beach, Clearview Township, Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, Meaford, and Grey Highlands) there have been 743 units sold to date this year. This is down by 28.3 per cent over last year.

On the supply side, there were 667 new residential listings in May 2018, which is the lowest level of new listings for the month since 2003, and a decrease of 14.9 per cent over last year.

MLS keeps track of what’s called a “months of inventory” figure, which is the number of months it would take to sell off the houses listed for sale at the current rate of sales activity.

There are currently 3.3 months of inventory, which is up from 2.1 months leftover at the end of May 2017 but still below the average of 7.5 months for this time of year.

According to statistics published on the Canadian Real Estate Association website, the average price of homes for sale in the western region of Southern Georgian Bay for the first quarter of the year is still on its way up.

The price for a detached home has gone up 4.4 per cent from $437,000 in 2017 to $456,375 in 2018. A further breakdown shows average home prices in Collingwood have stayed about the same over the past year, increasing by about 0.5 per cent to $458,000 this year. However, in The Blue Mountains, the median sale price for a detached dwelling increased by 14.8 per cent since last year from $660,000 to $757,500.

Median sale prices in Wasaga Beach have increased by 10 per cent this year from $390,000 to $430,000.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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