Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Market Watch - October 2009

For the past several months, we have been reading many different things in the media about the state of our economy. By all accounts, it seems that the "recession" that many experts were predicting, never really came to fruition. While there is still a great deal of uncertainty with regards to interest rates, unemployment and market stability, as far as the "Real Estate Market" is concerned, it seems to be "All Systems Go".

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has published their Market Watch report for the month of October 2009. The numbers that have been reported are truly astonishing. Not only has the market rebounded nicely, but there seems to be a dramatic upswing in process.

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, 8476 sales were reported for October. This represents an increase of 64% over October 2008 and an increase of 3.4% over the 8196 sales reported for September 2009. The average sale price reported was $423,559 for October which represents an increase of 20% over the same month in 2008.

The most astounding statistics, however, are related to inventory levels. We are being told in the media that our inventory of homes for sale is low. How low, you ask? The actual numbers reported by TREB indicate that inventory levels are critically low. In October, 11,532 new homes were listed, compared with 14,530 in October 2009 (-21%). The number of active listings in October was 14,771 compared with 27,277 (-46%) for the same month one year ago.

Even though the sales numbers are astonishingly high, the buyers have a severely diminished bank of listings from which to choose. We are truly in a seller's market! Good news for those of you that are thinking about selling your home in the near future! How long will this market last? We cannot be sure, but experience tells me that we have 4-6 weeks left in 2009 before things start the inevitable year end slow-down for the holidays. Traditionally the market is flooded with new listings towards the end of January/beginning of February every year. As such, if you are thinking of selling, there is no time like to present to capitalize on the frenzied market conditions.

Please feel free to visit my website to contact me if you are thinking about making a move. As the old saying goes, "He who hesitates, is lost". If history has shown us anything, those who react to change first, reap the greatest rewards. I'd love to share my experience with you to help you make the most of this dynamic sellers market.

Jenn :)

No comments:

Post a Comment