In my own experience in the last few weeks I have noticed while looking for a few buyers of mine that houses are selling faster than they can be listed properly. What has been happening to me is that as fast as houses are on the market they are already selling in a multiple offer situation. The people who know they are going to move know that the interest rates are going up. This is a huge factor. I have been saying as well as everybody else that the market will slow down soon. Interest rates combined with more houses being listed will give the buyers out there more choice and it will drive the prices down a bit.
With all the houses going off the market so fast there are also a bunch of houses I noticed on my street and in my area that have been sitting there and there is no movement. So I looked into the houses and noticed that they are way overpriced. So I was walking and handing out some of my market watch report on my street and I spoke to one of the owners of these overpriced houses. I said how is it going, have you had any offers. He said we have had a few but they are very low. I replied how low. He gave me the price and I told him that those prices are not unreasonable considering the offers are a lot higher than the comparables.
The moral of the story is that just because we have this crazy market right now, it doesn’t mean that people are going to pay 40% more for a house right away. It possibly could get there during negotiations through multiple offers but that is another situation. Anyway happy hunting here is a report from TREB for March. If have any questions please email or phone me.
Market Watch
Record First Quarter Sales
April 6, 2010 — Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 10,430 sales through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in March, pushing total first quarter 2010 sales to 22,418 – the best result on record under the current Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) boundaries. The average price for March transactions was $434,696. The average price for the first quarter was $427,948.
“The strong rebound in the existing home market was one of the initial drivers of economic recovery,” said TREB President Tom Lebour. “While we don’t expect to see the same rates growth moving forward, GTA households will remain confident in ownership housing as a quality long-term investment, especially as economic recovery expands across all industries.”
The annual rate of growth for new listings continued to accelerate in March. The number of new listings grew by 42 per cent compared to March of 2009.
“The average home price in the GTA will continue to grow this year, but the pace will slow as we move through the spring,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “As growth in new listings starts to outstrip growth in sales, buyers will experience more choice, resulting in more sustainable single digit rates of average price growth.”
Median Price
In March, the median price was $370,000, from the $317,500 recorded during March of 2009.
Ernie Arrizza 