What Happened To The Market?
When is the best time to buy or sell a home? This is the million dollar question that everyone asks. Despite no one having a crystal ball to predict market conditions accurately, we can look at the historical sales activity, market trends and data to make calculated guesses. However,spending too much time trying to perfect the timing of the Market can result in failure. There have been plenty of times where Buyers and Sellers wait for the perfect moment and get stuck with higher prices or high inventory markets. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just start - and move the process forward. With all that being said, let's make some predictions for the coming month of Real Estate.
Based on the two graphs above, the activity in the market has been on a downward trend as of April of this year.
In addition, August has been equally as slow - if not slower. Historically, trends in the Real Estate Market move downward as the summer months come. As a Realtor, I think it’s fair to say that activity in the market slows down as people are away on vacations, traveling to cottages or simply wanting to enjoy one last summer in their home while the kids are off school
When the Spring months come around there’s often a spike in the market, which you can see in the graphs. This slow down is what causes the upsurge in activity in September as people get back from their summer vacations and kids are back in school.
Demand comes back faster than supply. A Buyer can decide to buy, and from there be shown homes within 24 hours. A Seller on the other hand, will typically need a week or two Or more.. to get their home ready, staged, photographed before they can hit the market.
What this results in is high demand and low supply - meaning more intense bidding wars.
As of August we are still seeing lots of bidding wars. I recently competed in one on Monday that had a total of 16 offers and sold for 140K over the asking price!
For someone who is new to the world of Real Estate, all of these trends can be overwhelming and confusing. Articles in the news and magazines often paint a glum picture of what the market is doing, with statements like “little prospect of much new supply becoming available soon.”
I will be the first to say I disagree - September we’re going to see an influx of new listings hit the market. One of the best recommendations I can make is that to Sellers is that you want to be a head of this. As I mentioned, demand will come before supply.
If you’re a Buyer, stay positive. Start looking and submitting offers. Stay active as there will be lots of opportunities.
As a Realtor, I pride myself in knowing the trends of the market and how to best prepare my clients for whatever side they are on. Staying up to date on data and not relying on the mainstream media to tell me what’s happening.
