As stated previously on several occasions , real estate activity in the Southern Georgian Bay area as well as in other parts of Canada began to shift or change back in early 2022. That change has altered many aspects of selling and buying not the least of which is price. It should be noted however that there are other “measurable” factors at work that both Sellers and Buyers need to be ware of.
It has clearly become a more balanced market overall. Drilling down further whether it’s to look at location such municipality, property type or price range some parts of the market are clearly favouring the Buyer(s) versus the Seller(s).
In Part 1 of this blog I provided information explaining the difference between Days-On-Market (DOM) and “cumulative” Days-On-Market (CDOM) which is the total time it takes to sell a home from the time it is listed for sale on the MLS® System until it is SOLD firm once a Buyer’s conditions have been met such as a home inspection, mortgage financing etc. In this post I am going to expand on that information by providing CDOM for each of the six municipalities around the bottom of Georgian Bay which are as follows: Clearview Township, Collingwood, Grey Highlands, Municipality of Meaford, Blue Mountains and Wasaga Beach. I will then cover CDOM, the time it takes to sell a home in the various price segments of the market. While the market has indeed changed and with MLS® sales in 2023 running well behind what we saw in 2022, the numbers I am sharing reflect that it is by no means a “one size fits all situation. CDON varies from municipality to municipality. Further, there is some significant differences in the various price ranges which both Sellers and Buyers need to ne aware of.
If you visit Part 1 of this blog which included the chart below, you will see that for the overall market, the residential MLS® median CDOM (the time it takes to sell a home) in 2023 stands as of the end of July stands at 56 days, an increase of 273% from just 15 days to the end of July 2022.
Looking at that same data for each of the six municipalities mentioned above and shown in the chart below comparing 2022 versus 2023, the median CDOM varies from a low of 45 days to a high of 71 days. In Collingwood, Wasaga Beach and the Municipality of Meaford, the CDOM is below the overall CDOM for the entire area with the latter, Municipality of Meaford just 1 day less at 55 days. Conversely the residential CDOM in Clearview Township, the Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands is running 11%, 21% and 27% higher respectively than CDOM for all residential sales through our local MLS® System.
The chart below shows as a percentage, how the MLS® CDOM has changed in each of the six municipalities year-over-year to the end of July. Over the past year, the residential sale CDOM has jumped anywhere from 60% to 73%. Seller a home now takes much longer than a year or two ago.
Setting the residential MLS® residential sale CDOM aside in the individual municipalities, I them looked at CDOM in the various price ranges for homes in the area that I track on a monthly basis. As with each municipality there is again a significant difference in CDOM throughout the nine price segments that I regularly track and these are shown in the chart below for 2022 versus 2023 to the end of July.
Clearly, homes priced in the lower part of the market between $300,000 to $800,000 are selling faster with the CDOM running in the 44% to 49% range. Further, MLS® homes sales under $800,000 are up 53% and more in 2023 compared to 2022. The MLS® CDOM for homes priced between $800,000 to $999,999 are slightly higher at 53 days but sales in that price segment are down 27% from a year ago.
Once you get to $1 million and higher, the MLS® CDOM jumps quite significantly to 70 or 80+ days. That comes as no surprised as MLS® sales in every price segment above $1 million are running 38% to 136% below the first 7 months of 2022. See my 2nd Quarter 2023 MLS® Luxury Market Report or my general July 2023 Market Report for details.
Whether your are selling, buying or both, it has always been my belief that market data such as this is extremely important and critical in helping you make informed decisions. This is especially true when the market has changed such as the one we are in today. The robust market conditions we saw back in the latter half of 2020, 2021 and into early 2022 no longer exist. If you are selling or planning to sell your home or other property, a strategic approach to pricing is essential in order to attract a willing Buyer(s). The same approach needs to be taken when buying. More than price alone needs to be factored in and days-on-market, the time it takes to sell will be adversely affect if a property is over priced compared both to Buyer expectations as well as with other competing properties than may be listed for sale in your area. It’s a matter of not just “Buyer beware” but “Seller beware” as well in this competitive market.
As always, please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions.