Snow has started to fall in the Georgian Triangle, and as the temperatures settle down lower for the winter so too does that iconic white blanket over the Blue Mountains and surrounding area, launching another exciting frosty winter season for which the area is so well known. While skiers and snowshoers may be tuning up their cold weather gear, the real estate market for the Georgian Triangle shows no sign of cooling off or going into winter hibernation.

In fact the statistics released by the Georgian Triangle Association of REALTORS® (“GTAR”) for the month of November reveal that sales are up for the third month in a row over last year during the same period. The positive differential recorded for November over last year increased to 18% with 167 properties changing hands compared to only 141 in the same month in 2010. Dollar volume figures were even more impressive besting last year’s numbers for November by 22%, highlighting the ongoing comparative robustness of the higher end of the market.Year to date sales, however, calculated on the basis of units sold continue to trail last year’s numbers by almost 3.5%though at the current sales pace that year over year negative disparity is decreasing every month.Year to date dollar volume comparisons are in a virtual dead heat with last year’s numbers.

Listings are up almost 2% year over year both on a monthly as well as year to date basis with 429 new properties coming onto the market in November compared to 420 last year at this time, bringing the total so far this year to 6148 new listings compared to 6044 last year by this point. Not surprisingly, with the healthy market November logged the best monthly sales to listing ratio recorded since August of 2010 coming in at 38.93 compared to 33.81 last November and 39.72 in August of last year. The strong sales pace as well as seasonal trends also pushed inventories down by almost 9% from the previous month with 2119 active listings being recorded by GTAR compared to 2319 in October, but still a marked increase over last year of approximately 16% when only 1820 active listings were on the market in November.

Prices continue along a sustainable trajectory with the average residential sale price for the area measured on a year to date basis coming in at $325,291, 3.7% higher than last year’s figure at this time of $313,815. Numbers for residential single family properties measured over a 12 month period show a 4.6% increase year over year in average sale price even though the monthly average sale price for single family residential properties recorded an anomalous 3.5% price decrease over November of last year.

Average sale prices measured over a longer period and including a larger number of transactions are inevitably a better reflection of actual price trends. All in all, barring significant economic upheaval on the international scene, the market fundamentals for both the national and regional property markets continue to point to a sustainable and positive outlook for real estate. Predictions calling for low interest rates to persist into next year and only modest price growth in the area will contribute to ongoing ffordability. That matched with the natural attributes and diversity of the Georgian Triangle will highlight perceived and actual property value for the area and should further solidify and sustain confidence in this market moving forward.
Prepared by: Richard Stewart, Vice President, Legal Counsel