As anticipated, June was a quiet month for real estate sales as buyers vacillated while awaiting good news on the mortgage rate, then perhaps hoping that another cut would happen sooner rather than later.
Our June Snapstats prove the point being made by real estate guru, Ozzie Jurock, that location is no longer the first concern for buyers! PRICE is the primary concern, closely followed by renovation and condition. At the current interest rate and home prices, most buyers cannot conceive of a purchase which then requires more money to be spent after the fact.
With a continuing rise in inventory, sellers who do not have a need to sell may be best served by waiting for buyer confidence to rebuild and inventory to reduce. There are lots of things you can do to ready your home for the market in the meantime. Downsizers looking to relocate to a condo or townhome will have plenty of choices down the line as new projects continue to complete and join the many currently on the market. Being patient will pay dividends!
Toronto Dominion economist, Rishi Sindhi, is predicting that sales in Vancouver, Toronto and cities across Canada will “soon regain traction after a sluggish spring”. In his latest report, Mr. Sindhi cautions that “the nascent recovery will likely be mediocre because interest rate cuts may take longer than economists previously expected. A more meaningful rate relief is required.” He forecasts that “plenty of pent up demand” existing in Ontario and B.C. will result in “strongest sales gains”. We are hoping that this informed forecast proves correct.
Meanwhile back to our look at LOCAL stats – we see that Port Moody had the strongest market both in detached and attached homes in June. Single family detached homes sold on average 1% above list price and accounted for a 4% sales ratio. Following the past months, the attached market had the highest number of Port Moody sales once more with a 92% sales ratio. The attached markets in New Westminster, Port Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows stood out with sales ratio averages of 31%, 30% and 33%, respectively. Quite a feat in a gloomy market!
BEWARE – when checking out new builds, remember to check out the parking! There is a current premise that homes built close to the SkyTrain will be sold to bike riders rather than car owners and parking is being allocated accordingly. This is not a proven fact and could result in insufficient parking in a building. WORTH CHECKING!
In the meantime, we hope that you are all enjoying the summer and getting to some of the amazing events that we are lucky enough to have in our area. And if you are looking for a “boots on the ground”, close-by analysis of today’s market, we are your resource. We’re happy to answer your questions and review the options – your goals are our goals!
That’s it for another month from your Generations Real Estate Partners – Michelle Hawthorne, Scott Johnson, Shane Goutsis, Ray Harris and team ambassador, Sheila Francis.