DURHAM REGION REAL ESTATE MONTHLY HOUSING REPORT
Summarized by Jacob Asparian, Broker
Hey what's going on everybody! My name is Jacob I’m a broker running a team focused on all things real estate in Durham Region. Today we are going to review the market update numbers for February 2020.
To try and get a sense of what is happening in the market, we are going to look at the total number of listings, sales, and average market price in Durham Region.We will also do a deeper dive by looking at current inventory benchmarks and then talk about what this all means with a few key takeaways.
The basics! In every market, the 3 most important numbers we look at are listings, sales and average sales price
LISTINGS
We saw a total of 1293 new listings come to the market in Durham Region this February, which was a noticeable increase of 13.4% than the 1140 that came to market last year at this time.
Clarington is the only city that has a decrease in listings. Oshawa saw the largest increase in inventory at 25%!
SALES
We had 890 homes sell in Durham Region this February and that is a significant increase of over 52% from the 585 that were sold in February 2019.
Pickering had the smallest growth year over year for sales at "only 29%" and Oshawa saw sales nearly doubled at 90%
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
So what does this all mean for sales prices? The average sale price in Durham Region in February 2020 was $657,788. This is an increase of 13.3% from the 2019 average of $580,743!
Deep Dive!
Now the total months of inventory in Durham Region is currently at 1.2 which means we are in a fairly tight sellers market. This is even less inventory than what we had a year ago when we were sitting at 2.6 months of inventory. Not much tighter the market could get.
What does months of inventory mean? If we stopped listing homes and kept selling at the current pace, it is how long the inventory would last for. Anything under 4 months of inventory is considered a sellers market while anything over 6 is a buyers market and everything in the middle is balanced.
Days on market dropped to 18 compared to the 24 DOM we were at last year at this time.
The average sale price to list price ratio was 101% and SNLR (sales to new listing ratio) is 68.8%. All factors we tend to see when it is a sellers market and will be keeping a close eye on how things progress.
An SNLR between 40-60% is considered a balanced market with 50 being perfectly balanced. Over 60 is considered a sellers market and under 40 is a buyers. Technically, we are in the midst of a tight sellers real estate market again in Durham Region but we will see if the trend will continue.
My main takeaway from February:
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Activity wise it was the busiest February in Durham Region history
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First time we had over 800 homes sell in a month since 2017
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Avg sales price “HELD” from january to february at the 2017 levels.
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*At time of writing, news of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit us hard. While I normally would project a robust and busy March, we will likely see a drastic drop in overall activity. We have personally postponed all types of appointments
-Buyers. While the market will undoubtedly slowdown and many buyers will put their plans on hold we will still see homes get listed and sold. This is an opportunity if you were getting outbid the last couple months
-Seller. To get your home sold for top dollar, make sure you still put the time in to showcase the property to its full potential. You have one shot at a first impression. The last thing you want in a busy market like this is for buyers to pass on your property to keep looking. Buyers are willing to pay a premium on a listing that is move in ready
Prices fluctuate drastically throughout Durham Region, every single city and even the neighborhoods within those cities, are going to have varying numbers. If you are curious to know what your home is worth, we offer free, no obligation online evaluations.
PREDICTIONS
Last month I wrote “There are so many variables out of our control that can affect our market that we really don’t know what is going to happen in 30 days ,let alone 6-12 months, however, I genuinely believe Durham Region still has a lot of room for growth.”
I still believe in Durham Region and its long term potential, however, we will all feel be feeling the pinch from the Corona virus and it’s far reaching implications. The market will undoubtedly be coming to a screeching halt. We went from being in record breaking highs to global market uncertainty in days. This is not a durham region issue, this is a worldwide issue so we will be going along for the ride. We will be keeping a very close eye on the GTA and Durham Region numbers when they come out in 3 weeks to see just how drastic the effects have been. The government and banks have reacted quickly but we just need to wait and see just how the dust settles. This is a never before seen situation with far reaching implications. Homes will still be listed and sold, just at a much slower pace. We will continue to keep an eye on things and are here to answer any of your questions.
In the meantime, stay safe!
As always, please keep in mind that this is just a general overview. If you are ever curious to know what your home is worth in the current real estate market, please never hesitate to reach out. We offer no cost, no obligation market evaluations for all of you out there if you are thinking of selling or want a second opinion.
If you don’t necessarily want to meet with an agent just yet, no problem! Visit the link and we will send you a free online market evaluation. There is no cost or obligation for any of this.
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Whether you’re thinking of buying, selling, or just interested to know what’s happening in the market, my team and I are always here to help answer any questions that you may have. Make sure you go give us a follow on FB, IG or LinkedIn to stay connected and to sign up for our weekly newsletters to be the first to get our new content/and listings.
Until next month, have a good one!
