Grey, wet, & Cloudy; overcast and chilly. All great words to describe the weather this week, but none of them apply to the real estate market in milton ontario! It’s still pretty much a Seller’s market, with well-priced homes selling quickly with multiple offers. In fact, the average days to sell a home in Milton, adjusted to remove the anomalies of 89, 99, 134, & 390 days, is down to 9 days!

Here’s the Weekly Total Market Overview:

One thing I always look at when preparing these weekly updates is the price ranges that are most active, to see whether the activity is in the entry-level homes or the move-up price ranges. This week, the activity is firmly in the entry-level homes, which isn’t a surprise given that most lenders are still offering a 5-year mortgage at less than 4% interest rate.

To give you an overview of the listing and sales activity . . .

It’s absolutely fascinating to me that the number of available properties is remaining at such low levels; if ever there was a great time to move up, now is the time. I know that a lot of people will be kicking themselves for not taking advantage of this incredible opportunity once it has gone.

Here’s the Annual Summary of the Milton Ontario Real Estate Market:

And the Weekly Absorption Rate:

Yes, it’s been another interesting week in milton ontario real estate, trying to find well-priced houses to sell to highly-motivated buyers.

Look out for our Quarterly Update, coming sometime next week, once the data becomes available.

Another Friday, another market update. Not a lot to report – it seems that the market is stuck at an inventory of 127 homes for sale – the 5th week in a row!

Sales are remaining fairly stable, which is a good thing. There has been some more clearing out of stale inventory, as there were 6 homes on the market for 60 days or more, one of them for over a year, so that is a good thing. Including these anomalies, the average days to sell is pretty low, at 24 days.

Notice the activity seems to be in the lower price ranges again, with some in the upper ranges too; given the buying power of the dollar in today’s interest-rate climate, you might expect people to be spending more.

The annual summary chart, above, now has a full year’s worth of activity to report – notice how many houses were available as recently as 9 months ago, compared to the number on the market now.

Weekly Summary in Graphical Format

Supply & Absorption Rate

Weekly Listings & Sales

Brough to you by the Keller Institute at Baylor University . . .

Momentum building as Canada’s housing market shows continued strength . . .

There’s real reason for optimism this month as Canada’s housing market points to both recovery and potential signs of strength to come. In Canada’s major real estate markets pent-up demand for residential property, low interest rates and greater affordability continue to boost sales. The rise in sales is in turn helping to bring about more balanced market conditions, with lower inventory levels and upward pressure on housing values.  Good signs for the market – and a more level playing field for buyers and sellers. In fact, in especially attractive neighborhoods, it’s not uncommon to witness multiple offer situations.

Sales figures are encouraging, as June marked the fifth consecutive month of rising sales activity and represents the first time since January 2008 that monthly activity surpassed 40,000 units. According to Dale Ripplinger, president of CREA, “Potential buyers who moved to the sidelines late last year when economic uncertainty peaked are returning to the housing market now that the worst of the recession may be behind us.”

Spotlighting affordability, Canadians have benefitted from doses of price cuts as home prices and mortgage rates have decreased considerably since last year. They are the primary reasons home sales have remained relatively healthy in the midst of a broader economic challenges. Financing remains largely available through normal banking channels and the loosening credit market is a sign of effective monetary policy.

Fundamentally the Canadian economy is improving, supported by strengthening consumer confidence. Prospects for positive growth in 2009 and 2010 remain slow but encouraging. The Bank of Canada believes the end of the recession may be here, but unemployment and the appreciating loonie will continue to be major topics of economic concern.

June marked the fifth consecutive month of rising sales activity and represents the first time since January 2008 that monthly activity went above 40,000 units. According to Gregory Klump, Chief Economist of CREA, “The Bank of Canada has acknowledged that pent-up demand from late last year and earlier this year, combined with low mortgage rates, has resulted in a stronger than expected recovery in the housing market.”

The national average home price recorded new heights on a monthly basis with a 2.1% gain from May, putting it at 18.9% above its low in January. A strong rebound in sales activity in Canada’s most expensive markets continued to skew the national average price upward.

The supply of homes continued to be drawn down in June, with 16% fewer new listings coming onto the market compared to the same time a year ago. “Pent-up demand from late last year and earlier this year, combined with low mortgage rates, has resulted in a stronger-than-expected recovery in the housing market,” said CREA Chief Economist Gregory Klump. With fewer new listings and rising sales activity, the selection of homes available for sale may shrink further.

In its meeting on July 21, the Bank of Canada held its benchmark overnight lending rate steady at 0.25%. As a result, key mortgage rates stayed relatively stable. The 5-year conventional mortgage rate remained under 6%. While rising from record-low levels to 5.85% last month, they are still 1.3% lower than the same time last year.

Taskforce to Focus on Financial Literacy

The government recognizes that a strong, stable financial   system relies on consumers who are cognizant about using   and managing credit. The government is taking steps to ensure education and information needed to make informed decisions is available for all.

As part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the government intends to take measures to increase education about finances to all Canadians.  Recently, the federal government announced that it will attempt to organize all stakeholders by forming a unified taskforce. Including business, education, and volunteer representatives, the taskforce will make recommendations to the minister of finance about ways to achieve enhanced financial literacy across the country. This is expected to benefit all Canadians with a bank account, mortgage, or credit card.

The taskforce expects to continue discussion into 2010.

Protect Your Home:  Be Informed on Insurance

Before purchasing a home, many homeowners hire an inspector to identify potential problems. This ensures there are no unknown expensive problems the buyers will inherit once the home becomes theirs. After purchasing a home, buyers purchase homeowners insurance in the unexpected event that anything damages the home.

A study by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) revealed that the majority of homeowners were not aware of what types of disasters their homeowners insurance protects against.

While 99% of homeowners knew fire damage is covered under their basic insurance, only 29% understood that flood damage was not.  In fact, homeowners typically incorrectly answered half of the hazard-related questions in the study.

Do you know what is covered on your insurance policy? Check your policy to ensure that you are covered for everything you believe you are.

Well, the milton ontario real estate market’s at it again! When you look at the numbers in the charts below, you’ll see that there are a great number of price ranges where the average sale price is more than 100% of the listing price. Now, when I say ‘the market’, I’m referring to the components of the market, and perhaps specifically one segment of it.

The real estate market really has 4 or 5 influencing factors, even though the lives of more than 1,000 people are impacted every time a home is sold. Those influencing factors are, in no particular rank of importance:

1. Buyers
2. Sellers
3. Real Estate Agents
4. Interest Rates
5. Employment Stability

In a market such as we are seeing this week, I am inclined to think that real estate agents are responsible for the fact that so many homes have sold for more than 100% of the list price. And I’m not convinced that it is a good thing. You see, a home won’t sell for more than the list price unless there is more than one offer on it. Multiple offers are a double-edged sword, as I’ve said in the past; there are many buyers in the marketplace who will not join the competition, yet would be willing to pay more than the list price for a home. Hmmmm – the psychology of home buyers is a fascintating topic, for another time.

I find myself having to wonder ‘would those sellers have netted more money if the homes had been listed for a higher price in the first place?’ The temptation is to think that perhaps they would have, however, one thing that is certain is that when a house sells in just 3 or 4 days, it is unlikely that the sellers are going to get the maximum price for the house. It can, and does, happen, in my opinion, but it is a strong possibility that they don’t get maximum value for their home if it has not even made it onto MLS.ca, for example. If the public doesn’t know about the property, how can people get the best value for it? Something for you to keep in mind when hiring an agent to sell your home. CAVEAT – don’t blindly hire the agent who promises you the highest price; make them back it up with numbers, and proof that they not only have the market data, but also that they understand it and can interpret it!

So, here are the milton ontario real estate market numbers for this past week. In compiling the average days to sell (DOM in some charts), I removed from the equations the houses that were on the market for 100 days, 45 days, 375 days, etc., in order to present a true picture of what is happening out there.

First, the Total Market Overview:

And next, the Annual Summary of Averages, in both tabular and graphical versions: