August was a HOT month!

We kept hearing rumblings that the hot market of the last few years was drawing to a close. The stats for August from the Woodstock & Ingersoll Real Estate Board tell a very different story. The cause for some of the rumours were caused by a select few in the industry. There have been some listings over the last couple of years that were listed for a substantial amount under value. This was done less to spur multiple offers (as a small amount under listing would have had the same effect) and done more as a selling tool to get additional listings. Realtors could go to the next listing appointment and tell stories of how they sold houses for 20, 30, 50 up to 90,000 more than list price. The truth of the matter is that this was a game of smoke and mirrors as most listings were selling  by as little as a few thousand and up to 10-15 thousand over value on average. And the value is what matters!

Now the industry has to dig out from under these stories as sellers are routinely expecting to get tens of thousands of dollars over their homes actual value and the ones that try this approach suffer and sit on the market. Properly priced listings are moving quickly and offer higher year-over-year gains than at any other time over the last few years!

Here are the important stats:

The average residential sale in August 2017 was $325,541.89. In August 2018 that was up to $387,897.78. An increase of just over 18%. The increase from August 2016 to August 2017 was just over 7%.

August of this year is the biggest month since July of 2017.

There were only 113 new residential build permits for 2018 in Oxford County. That is way down. In 2o17 there were 207 and 211 in 2016. Less competition from builders means more buyers for the resale market.

The list to sale ratio (the number of houses listed in a given month compared to the number sold in the same time period) for Woodstock in August was 85%. That is a great number. 65 houses listed and 55 sold. This proves that there are buyers for listings that are properly priced. In Ingersoll the number is even crazier. Their ratio is 140%! 15 houses listed and 21 sold. These are the kinds of numbers driving a seller's market and pushing prices higher.

Numbers like these are what homeowner's want to see. And if you are looking to get into the market, now is the time as the numbers all point to a continuing seller's market meaning the sooner you get in, the sooner you can start making money on your purchase. And if you are looking to move up to a larger home, the time is now. Homes go up in percentages, so the $300,000 and $600,000 homes both went up around 18%. Which means the gap is growing. And the same as a new homebuyer, the sooner you move up to that dream home, the sooner you can be putting the gains on that larger home in your pocket as opposed to paying someone else those gains when you decide to make the move in the future!

If you have any questions about the info in this article, or any other questions you have about buying or selling, please reach out to Tracey or Marshall today.