2022 Summary

 

Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2023 will be a wonderful year for you and your family.

Here is a summary of various statistics for the Niagara Real Estate Market for the past five years. With all the News Reports, Social Media talk and chatter among friends, I thought it may be good to look at some "hard data", I know it helps me put things in perspective! If you are not in Niagara, the numbers for most areas seem to reflect a similar situation. Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think may be interested!

Here is my take on the "Numbers";
- Selling Prices are down 23% from the March 2022 Highs
- Selling Prices are down 12% from December 2021 to December 2022.
- Selling Prices are now similar to the Spring of 2021.
- The Current Average days to sell is 48 days. This is up from 22 Days to sell in December 2021.

Overall the market is the slowest it’s been for sales in the past 3-4 years.  Average prices have almost leveled out – there were significant price drops through the Summer and Fall of 2022… the pace of price drops has slowed, and the “bottom” seems to be near. Interest Rates are the biggest driver for slow sales. Inflation numbers are the biggest drive for Interest rate decisions. The largest inflation occurred from October 2021 to May 2022, hopefully the year over year comparison numbers in May 2023 will help the Bank of Canada to hold rates, or possible easing of rates. I personally do not think we are going to see a 2% or 3 % variable rate anytime soon. Buyers will slowly get used to working with the current higher rates, but there is a limit on what they can spend.

To be successful in selling your property in this current environment, Sellers need to Price their property with the utmost accuracy (No wishful thinking/or "just to try it out"), prepare the property to show it in the best possible light, work with buyer showing schedules, and work with any offers that are presented (Negotiation is back), and carefully look at other comparable properties in all areas of the city with an objective eye. Make sure your property is the one that gets purchased! Buyers have choices in today's market!

If you have any questions about this email, or any of the numbers, feel free to call me anytime! I hope you all have an excellent 2023!