Monday, 9 February 2015

Buyer's market or a seller's market currently?

All businesses require a brisk turnover in inventory
By Mark Schadenberg

Realtors and statisticians, and Realtors who like analyzing numbers, have many definitions for a market's current activity. I've heard various terms over my 16 years in the business – buyers' / sellers' market, hot or cold, high demand and low supply, hectic or quiet, bulldog, multiple offers, sizzling, etc.
An explanation for the latest stats can sometimes create perspective. For example, can you possibly say it's a buyers' market in the Woodstock area if the average listing is sold in three months or less. No. The advantage in that case would be with the seller as homes are selling reasonably fast and the inventory of listings is turning over relatively fast. When you factor in our current historically low number of listings, the advantage there would also be with sellers.
If the average listing has had two price reductions and has been on the MLS system for sixth months it therefore is a buyers' market. Or, the home was simply over-priced to begin with.
Our WIDREB (Woodstock-Ingersoll district) board is having difficulty defining itself this winter because the number of listings is significantly low. A motivated qualified buyer does not have many homes to consider, in many of the price ranges below $250,000.
Look at the provided charts which depict that the total number of possible homes for a buyer to consider in the WIDREB trading area is low. The prudent stats guy must then compare price ranges. How many homes are currently listed in the most popular $225,000 - $250,000 range?
As one chart shows, in 2014, 62% of all listings did sell, which is a healthy sales-to-listing ratio and indicates that even though overall sales totals were lower than 2013, several sold signs were seen.
Back in 2009, less than half the homes on the market sold (See graph).
The key factor might be the chart indicating month-by-month total listings in WIDREB compared to 2012 and 2013 as we see that 2014 trailed in every month.
Sometimes these stats are a little misleading as everyone has seen a house not sell and suddenly re-appear on the market (new listing) with a different Realtor. However, as this always occurs the long-term averages will carry the day.
Look at the year-end numbers WIDREB total sales below:
2014: 1180
2013: 1252
2012: 1066
2011: 1158
2010: 1216
2009: 1080
2008: 1176
2007: 1359
2006: 1278
2005: 1473
Average for past 10 years: 1224


LINKS:


Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
 

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