Low Listings

by Darrin DeRoches February 9 - 15, 2012

Sales are up in the first month of 2012, but the inventory is low. The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton–Burlington (RAHB) reported 819 property sales through the RAHB Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) for the month of January, representing a 10.8 percent increase in sales over the same month last year. RAHB also reported that 7.7 percent fewer listings were taken in the month of January of this year compared to January of last year. Seasonally, adjusted sales of all property types were 3.3 percent higher than January 2011, with the average sale price increasing 4.6 percent for the month. Seasonally adjusted numbers of new listings, however, were over 23 percent down from the same month last year.     Residential condominiums saw the biggest gain in sale price for a January, with an increase of 7.9 percent in the average sale price and an 11 percent increase in median price. The average sale price of a freehold home was $328,526. So how does this affect the market? Traditionally the market would be referred to as a sellers’ market, since there is low competition and sellers are receiving top dollar. People need housing when they need it, so if the market has limited choices people tend to pay more when they need to buy. Traditionally this time of year the market tends to be slow until “spring has sprung” but with the warm weather and lack of snow, buyers are out there buying. Sellers tend to put their properties up in March or April but a savvy seller may want to consider getting their property up earlier since the inventory is so low.     Timing can make the seller thousands and thousands of dollars or timing can also cost the seller thousands and thousands of dollars. Today a condo or single family seller should get their house on the market as fast as they can. They stand to make a quick sale for top dollar on their property – right now. In a month, things will start to change and the same property may get lost in the shuffle and not realize the same dollar value. This can also be said for the income/student property. The window for selling a student property is shrinking daily. I just had a conversation with a seller last night about listing his student property but I will write about that next week. If you are considering selling a property this year, get it on the market now!  V         Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.