Compared to where we were at this time last year, certain numbers may be down slightly, it’s true. Others, however, are up—way up.
The average sale price for the first quarter of 2022 is a year-to-date record of $1,077,755. That’s up an incredible 29% from March of last year, when this figure was $835,407. Properties are spending less time on the market too, averaging 18 days against last March’s 21.
While the sales volume for the month of March itself was down 22% and the number of units down 32% year over year, the first quarter of 2022 saw a record sales volume of $543,188,334. It’s an increase of 3% from Q1-2021 and marks a new Q1 benchmark for the region.
As has been the case for much of the past two years, the demand for listings is greater than the supply and it is still very much a sellers’ market.
Southern Georgian Bay had a strong 103% sale/list price ratio in March and homes sold, on average, in just 12 days—that’s down from 18 days a year ago. The average sale price for the month of March was up 15%, to $998,656.
Increases in sales this quarter occurred in the four most expensive price ranges in the region: $800K-$999K (+9%), $1M-$1.499M (+64%), $1.5M-$1.999M (+31%) and $2M+ (+61%).
While the Southern Georgian Bay real estate market was not as active in the first quarter of 2022 as it was in 2021, dollar sales continued to climb due to escalating sale prices, according to the latest in-depth market report from Royal LePage’s Locations North.
The average sale price increased in every category: for a single-family home it was $1,211,518 (up 29% from 2021); for condominiums, that number was $630,688 (up 21%) and for townhouses $847,864 (up 32%).
In the past decade or so, the local market has seen huge gains, both generally and relative to inflation. From 2010 to 2021, the average sale price of a single-family home increased at just under Canada’s inflation rate; it then rose to 204% above inflation in Q1-2022. It’s a similar story for condos in the area: prices remained under the inflation rate until 2015, before beginning to climb steadily in 2016 and finishing 124% above inflation in Q1-2022.
Several indicators do indeed point to a slowing market, though it is still strong. Will sale prices continue to climb throughout the next few months, or will we eventually see a cooling effect? Stay tuned for next month’s update.
The REALTORS® at Locations North are the experts in luxury real estate properties throughout South Georgian Bay, with offices in Collingwood, Thornbury, Creemore, Craigleith, Meaford, Wasaga Beach and Stayner. View their listings.