With the heart of the spring market mostly behind us, we are now approaching the end of spring and the beginning of the summer market. Overall, prices have increased slightly, as expected, but sales are slightly down. Let’s take a closer look!
The average price increased slightly from $629,358 in April to $637,203 in May and on a year over year basis, increased by 0.9%. If we look at the entire year to date, we are up 1.9% which is very much in line with most expert forecasts who expect to see the market level out over the next year or two. It is never uncommon to see rising prices during the busy spring market but it’s interesting to see increased prices while the total number of sales has dipped.
In April, there were 541 sales compared to only 519 sales last month. On a year over year basis, sales are down 11.2% but total inventory is at the highest level the market has seen in a very long time. While I don’t expect any dramatic changes, I do believe the market may have piqued and we could see a bit of a slow down over the next couple of months. Certain neighbourhoods have already stalled a bit while others remain strong.
Currently, there are a lot of baby boomers looking to downsize and given the constant scare in the media of the market collapsing, I suspect many homeowners are listing now just in case anything were to happen.
So, given the large inventory and lower sales, I suspect that prices should feel a bit of downward pressure over the coming months and the average time it takes to sell a home might edge a little higher. If you’re planning to sell your home anytime soon, standing apart from your competition will become that much more important. If you would like to schedule a free evaluation of your home, please feel free to contact me anytime!
