Whew!

I don’t know about you, but the last few months have been WILD in the Real Estate world!

January started off with a bang, seeing record-setting sale prices and homes being put on the Market to receive dozens of offers in just a few hours. As we continued on, the Bank of Canada has since implemented TWO interest rate increases, combined with other world issues and increasing inflation costs caused it all to come to a screeching halt for the month of May. I know our clients have felt the effects, and a lot of us are wondering…what’s next? Will costs continue to climb? Will the market tank? What should I expect over the next few months, especially if I’m in the market to buy or sell?

Well, I think a lot of what’s to come has a lot to do with what’s already happened, so let’s discuss that here.

Below you will see a chart that highlights some sales data from the last 10 years:

What you’ll see, of course, is how much disparity there is between 2011, with an average home sold in Durham Region for $317,024, to 2021 where the sold price of homes jumped to $925,710! It seems simply outrageous!

However, you may also notice that a trend line for home prices is also on this graph. If we follow that line, we can see that it’s only since 2021 that there’s been a spike in sold prices, and that between the end of 2017 and 2018 there was actually a large dip in the trend, which was then “corrected” in 2019 and 2020 to be back “on trend”. So are home prices really off of what they should be?

Many speculate that the pandemic, and as a result, many of us staring to work from home, spend less time outside of our home and, perhaps, deciding that our current home no longer met our needs, is what influenced this sudden uptick in not only listings (notice the huge drop in homes sold in 2018 compared to other years).

So what’s been happening more recently?

Above you’ll see a chart which outlines sales in the Durham Region since January 2022. There’s a lot of data shown here, but again, if we look at the trend line, we can see that overall, the sold prices of homes in the Durham Region are slowly coming back down – the average sale price in January of $1,175,010 has lowered to $1,075,332 in May, a difference of approximately 8.5% overall. Which, honestly, should be helpful to all our clients, whether buying or selling. A more stable housing market help everyone make safer, moire confident decisions. And isn’t that what we should be focusing on when buying or selling your home?

Of course, the next questions are always “what about the future”? of course, nobody can answer that for you. The reality is that nobody can predict the future, nor is any one solution going to work for everybody. But what we CAN suggest is that everyone try to educate themselves a little bit more. Reach out to the professionals in your life (Realtor, accountant, lawyer, mother – you know, the regulars!) and ask their professional advise. Reach out to discover what sources you can follow to keep up to date to trends and changes to key variables, like our Neighbourhood Watcher tool (click the link), which shares regular emails of homes available in whichever area you choose.

Also, make sure you draft a plan for when you’d like to enter the Market yourself – homes aren’t turning around in a matter of a week, anymore, and some great planning with your Realtor and his fantastic team of stagers, photographers, cleaners (and more!) can help you prep your own home while searching for you next stop. Connect with Scott or Angela when you’re ready to learn more about selling or buying real estate in today’s Market!