NEWS RELEASE
SOUTHERN GEORGIAN BAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
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Residential sales recorded through the Ontario Collective MLS® system for the Southern Georgian Bay region came in well below levels recorded a year earlier in Feb. 2018. Home sales numbered 123 units in Feb. 2018, down 43.8 per cent from a very strong Feb. in 2017. Year-to-date home sales numbered 260 units, down 27.4 per cent from this time last year.
The Southern Georgian Bay region comprises two distinctive markets. Home sales in the Western Region, which includes Wasaga Beach, Clearview Township, Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, and portions of the Municipality of Meaford and Grey Highlands, fell 46.5 per cent on a year-over-year basis to 76 units in February 2018. Year-to-date home sales in the Western Region numbered 173 units, down 26.7 per cent from this time last year.
Meanwhile, home sales in the Eastern Region, encompassing the Towns of Midland and Penetanguishene, the Townships of Tay and Tiny and portions of Severn and Georgian Bay Townships, totalled 47 units in February. This stood 39 per cent below February 2017. Year-to-date home sales in the Eastern Region numbered 87 units, down 28.7 per cent from this time last year.
“The story in January was about how the Western Region had bucked the trend of falling sales seen across much of the country, but that seems to have only lasted a month, with activity in the Western Region falling sharply in February to join the Eastern District at about 40 per cent below last year’s very strong levels,” said Matthew Lidbetter, President of the Southern Georgian Bay Association of REALTORS®.
“That said, we’re still in the volatile period immediately following the introduction of the new stress test along with a rate hike in mid-January. Additionally, we are also still in the winter, so it takes a smaller number of sales being shifted around by irregular factors like a policy change to produce a large yearover-year change. The picture will become clearer over the next few months as things start to settle down.”
The number of new residential listings in Feb. 2018 was 276 units, up 7 per cent from a year earlier. This was still the second lowest-ever reading for new supply in the month February. Overall supply remains near record lows. There were just 591 active residential listings in the region at the end of Feb. 2018, up just 3.5 per cent from year-ago levels.
There were just 4.8 months of inventory at the end of February, above the 2.6 months recorded at the end of Feb. 2017 but still well below the long-run average for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity. The value of all residential transactions in February was $54.4 million, down 41.2 per cent from the record-breaking levels seen in February 2017.
Sales of all types of properties numbered 145 units in February, a decline of 45.3 per cent compared to the same month in 2017. The total value of all properties sold in February 2018 was $60.9 million, down 41.1 per cent from February 2017.
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