Real estate board reports low housing inventory
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A shortage of houses is cited as the reason for a decline in home sales in the local area in November compared with November of 2017.
A total of 52 housing units sold in the local area in November, the Simcoe and District Real Estate Board reported this week in a news release.
This compares with 63 housing units in November of 2017.
“Home sales have recently been quieting down again,” said Paul Van Londersele, president of the Simcoe & District Real Estate Board. “As has been the case all year, this could be a story about cautious buyers or lack of product to buy or both.”
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 675 units over the first 11 months of 2018.
This was down 20.3 per cent from the same period in 2017.
The average price of homes sold this November was $354,981, edging up 1.7 per cent from November of 2017.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $377,920, which is up 9.1 per cent from the first 11 months of 2017.
The dollar value of all home sales in November was $18.5 million, which was down 16.1 per cent from the same month in 2017.
There were 81 new residential listings in November. While this was a large increase of 35 per cent on a year-over-year basis, it mostly reflects the record low inventory of available properties in November of last year.
Overall, supply is up from the extreme lows of last year but is nonetheless still running at some of the lowest levels ever.
Active residential listings numbered 173 units at the end of November, up 33.1 per cent from the end of November of 2017 but still well below the same time in every other year on record going back to the late 1980s. The long-term average for the end of November is over 400 listings.
“Months of inventory” is the number of months it would take to sell current properties at the current rate of sales activity.
Months-of-inventory numbered 3.3 at the end of November, up from the 2.1 months recorded at the end of November of 2017 but below every other year on record.
The Simcoe & District Real Estate Board was established in 1959 and covers a diverse and extensive region. The real estate board represents real estate professionals in Simcoe and surrounding area.
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