Home sales increase in Woodstock area, but listings inventory is low

WIDREB year-end sales numbers up in 2013 versus 2012

By Mark Schadenberg

Prices of homes in the Woodstock area rose by 2.3% and total sales were up by 17% over 2012, reports the Woodstock-Ingersoll District Real Estate Board (WIDREB) year-end press release.

In more concrete terms, the average price of a home in the WIDREB geographical area was $230,162 in 2013.

Total reported MLS sales were 1196, which is a significant increase from 1065 in 2012.

The misnomer here is that the average of the past 11 years (see below) is 1,229. It’s fun to spin numbers, but quite frankly the gigantic number of 2005 should be pulled from the variables to lower the average to about 1,205 and surprise surprise it depicts therefore that 2013 was an average year – not great, but not bad, simply average.

Having said that, you must remember most people selling a house are also buyers, so the picture of a balanced market is important.

The flip side is that WIDREB (www.widreb.ca) (Woodstock, Ingersoll, Norwich, Innerkip, Embro, Beachville, Salford, Thamesford, Drumbo, etc) now reports that total available active listings is only 419 (lowest number according WIDREB in more than seven years) and that’s extremely low. A low inventory does two things, which sometimes can balance the counter-weights. Firstly, some people can simply not find the house they may want to purchase so they stay out of the market or simply do not buy. Or, and it’s a big or, prices go up because motivated active buyers have few homes to select from so days-on-market is reduced and demand is high for the few available properties.

As you can see, I love to twist the numbers, but the bottom line right now is if you have a good saleable home which is priced right, it should sell quickly in this market, and it doesn’t matter if this is January. Keep in mind, motivated ‘ready’ buyers are always in existence.

Year-Buy-Year

2013: 1196

2012: 1065                           

2011: 1159                           

2010: 1216               

2009: 1080

2008: 1176                           

2007: 1359                           

2006: 1278               

2005: 1473 (correct)

2004: 1366                           

2003: 1153 

Average: 1229
Phil Soper of Royal LePage (president and CEO) makes his national predictions for 2014. Buyers' market or a sellers' market from coast-to-coast ?
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/royal-lepage-expects-sellers-market-in-2014-after-year-of-sluggish-sales-1.1630278

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.wesellwoodstock.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

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