February 2010

February 2009

Active Listings

291

473

Total Sales Guelph

165

115

Average Days on Market

28

44

Av. Sold % of List Price

99.1%

97.5%

Sold Full Price or More

33%

13%

Average Sale Price

286,720

246,366

South-end Drives Early Spring Market

Imagine putting your home up for sale and after two days on the market you receive eight offers and sell well over asking price. I know that sounds too good to be true but that’s exactly what many fortunate sellers in Guelph experienced in February. Following a strong fourth quarter when the Canadian economy grew by 5 per cent, the biggest rebound in nine years, Canadians are feeling more positive about the economy. A recent consumer outlook index showed growing optimism last month, with 62 per cent now saying they expect the economy to improve in the next year.

Consumer optimism was evident locally as buyers willing to out-bid each other hit the streets and bought practically everything in sight. Spring had definitely come early as 33% of MLS sales sold for full price or more. But was this a city wide phenomena or did some areas fair better than others? Actually if your property was located in the south end you had a much better chance of attracting competing offers than anywhere else in the city. In fact 70% of the homes that sold for full price or more were located south of Stone Road.

Many of these purchases were likely made by investors looking for student rental properties with close proximity to U of G but neighbourhoods like Pine Ridge, Westminster Woods and Clairfields were super hot as well. Although the remainder of the city wasn’t quite as active as their neighbours in the south, those areas were strong as well and did enjoy some spill over effect where buyers intent on making a purchase in the south end were forced to consider other areas because there just weren’t enough homes for sale.

With the average MLS listing selling in 28 days and for 99.1% of asking price you wouldn’t think the market could get much hotter but the season is yet to change and nothing would surprise me at this point. As the snow melts and things begin to turn green look for hot spring market conditions to spread throughout the city.  

Congratulations to Canada and Vancouver on a fabulous winter Olympics! My family and I watched with pride as our hosts and athletes showed the world what it means to be Canadian.

What is Greenrealestate?

Greenrealestate™ promotes the sales and marketing of real estate that:

• Preserves natural resources,
• Protects air and water quality,
• Produces less toxic pollution and waste,
• Utilize readily renewable resources,
• Utilizes recycled or reclaimed materials,
• Promotes Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency,
• Promotes Environmental awareness,
• Reduces Green House gas Emissions
• Reduces annual energy costs,
• Promotes good design and quality,
• Reduce construction associated waste
• Minimizes the use of toxic materials to reduce the emission of poisonous indoor emissions,
• Uses adaptable materials that can be reused or recycled.
• Helps leave the world a better place for future generations

When considering a particular home, it’s important for buyers to know the energy-efficient features that keep home operating costs down and the conservation opportunities that will improve their home comfort. Conversely, sellers want to know what energy and cost-saving features buyers will value and what energy-efficiency upgrades can improve resale marketability.

Feel free to contact Dean Manton at 519-716-4663 or mail@deanmanton.com with any Greenrealestate questions or visit the NAGAB website for more information. https://nagab.org/index.php

Active Listings                      247              419                                        

Total Sales Guelph                102                98   

Average Days on Market         26                46           

Av. Sold % of List Price           98.4%          98.1%       

Sold Full Price or More             30%            17%          

Average Sale Price               $276,170     $255,361

Guelph Get’s a B!

Calgary, Waterloo, Ottawa, Vancouver, St. John's, and Richmond Hill, Ont., top the Conference Board of Canada ranking of the country's most attractive cities to migrants, the Globe and mail reported in January.

These cities have “what migrants are looking for when choosing where to locate,” according to the Conference Board's second report on the topic. It analyzed 50 Canadian cities based on 41 indicators including health, economy, environment, society, education, innovation and housing to rank the places most attractive to skilled workers and mobile populations. “Cities that fail to attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous and vibrant,” said Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies, in the report” The six top cities all got an “A” grade in the report.

Fourteen cities landed in the second-tier, or “B” class, with Edmonton, Victoria, Markham, Vaughan, Kingston, Oakville, and Guelph in the top half of this group. Toronto, Canada's largest city, also earns a “B” grade. Twenty-one cities ranked in the “C” grade category, including Kitchener ON. The “D” class includes smaller or mid-sized cities: in Ontario, Oshawa, Brantford, Windsor, and Cambridge.

One never knows what to expect from a January real estate market. Some years the phone starts ringing on January 2^nd and doesn’t slow down until July. Other years like this one, it takes a little time to get things rolling. Although we did get off to a slow start this year the second half of January rebounded with a vengeance. A week ago I made an offer on a home in the south-end for a buyer and we found ourselves competing with seven other offers. That well-priced home sold for $11,000 over asking price. The competing offer scenario turned out to be a common occurrence in the latter half of the month when 30% of homes sold on MLS went for full price or more and the average days on market decreased to a scorching 26 days.  One other bit of good news is that our inventory of homes for sale grew 30% from the previous month. This means that even though homes are selling at a torrid pace, buyers do have a few more to choose from.

Expect this hot “sellers” market to last well into spring but remember that New Homes, real estate commissions & lawyers fees are HST applicable. Your transaction must close before July 1^st to avoid the HST.

Active Listings                         177           351                                      

Total Sales Guelph                    98              62         

Average Days on Market           35              56            

Av. Sold % of List Price             97.8%        94.9%       

Sold Full Price or More              26%              4.7%          

Average Sale Price                $274,901      $265,402 

YEAR AT A GLANCE 

                                                     2009                     2008 

Total MLS Sales                           1992                    1998

Average Days on Market                41                         39

Av. Sold % of List Price                 97.8%                97.9%

Average List Price                      266,709                267,126              

Average Sale Price                     260,998               261,726

 Two Tales of a City

One look at December’s sales statistics and you can clearly see a huge change from a year ago. December 2008 had us waist deep in the global recession and while banks and automakers were being bailed-out south of the border our local real estate market was pretty much non-existent. Total sales for the month had trickled to an all-time low and while Stephane Dion enjoyed a cup of coffee as the Federal Liberal leader the average days on market for MLS listings slowed to a snail’s pace and the amount of active listings for sale began to pile up. Was the market transitioning into the first buyers market that we had seen in more than a decade? It certainly looked that way. 

Fast forward to December 2009 and things couldn’t be more different. MLS sales are up 63% from last year, the average time on market is 35 days and an incredible 26% of MLS sales in December sold for full price or more. That’s what I call a recovery! Symptomatic of this turnaround however is the fact that our inventory of active listings in Guelph is now at a record low of 177 homes as of January 1^st. More homes for us Realtors to sell would definitely make this economic recovery complete. 

Although 2009 sure had its ups and downs, the year-at-a-glance statistics tell a surprisingly different story. The year-end stats for 2009 are almost a carbon copy of the numbers for 2008! Total sales, identical! Average days on market, sold % of list price, average list and sale prices virtually identical! How could this be? 2008 was a typical year for Guelph with a typically predictable strong real estate market. 2009 was a dog’s breakfast! It started with a global recession and a potential buyers market. It was a little flat in the middle as the world mourned Michael Jackson’s demise and then just as we were all discovering that Tiger Woods was human after all, the big finish, a spectacular recovery! Statistically speaking, 2009 turned out to be exactly like its predecessor just with a lot more drama mixed in to make things more interesting. It’s almost as if we all woke up after a bad dream on New Years Day repeating “there’s no place like home”, only to find ourselves back where we started. 

Going forward, I believe the 2010 real estate market is poised to be very active both locally and across the country. Renewed confidence will have buyers and sellers who stayed put over the last year and a half mostly because of fear, ready to make a move.

I expect the first half of the year to be especially hectic due to consumers wanting to avoid the Harmonized Sales Tax that is due to take affect in July. Fasten your seatbelts friends another wild and wonderful year of real estate awaits!

Happy New Year and have a healthy and prosperous 2010!