January 2014 Market Watch

Welcome to your first 2014 edition of Market Watch; your local market update from Pennington’s Perspective. The market information provided is based on sales activity in Northumberland from statistics provided by the Northumberland Hills Association of Realtors.

The month of January is traditionally a slower month for sales volume of closed transactions, but where you see a dramatic increase is in the volume of listings. January saw 158 listings on the market, which is an increase of 132% over December 2013 when only 68 units were listed. However, vs. January of last year the overall inventory was down by 17% (191 in January 2013, vs. 158 in January 2014). Residential listings included in this figure decreased by 12%, down to 50 compared to 57 last year.

55 units in total were sold this January, which is a 17% increase from last year when 47 units were sold. Within this, residential sales were down by 13% compared to 2013.

Another important factor in the market is overall value. The average residential property value sold in January was $248,808 which is a 13% decrease from the previous year with the average sold value at $285,716. We saw a decrease in the sales of lower priced homes in 2013, a price point that is usual impacted by first time buyers, and this reduced number of lower priced transactions inflated the average sale price. It could be that the decrease in average sale price is due to a higher number of lower priced home sales and first-time buyers re-entering the market.

Although inventory and average sale prices are down in compared to January of 2013, with an increase of sales volume of 14.5% and a likely increase in first-time buyer activity, there are positive signs that we are on our way to a strong and busy 2014 real estate market.

For more information on the Northumberland housing market or to find out the value of your property contact Jacqueline Pennington at pennington.remax@gmail.com or 905-375-0062

Information based on sales statistics from the Northumberland Hills Association of Realtors 2013-2014 sales data as interpreted by Jacqueline Pennington. The opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of Jacqueline Pennington and do not represent those of the Northumberland Hills Association of Realtors or RE/MAX Lakeshore.

Copyright © 2014 Jacqueline Pennington. All rights reserved.