The scarcity of new listings has certainly been the trend throughout most of 2017 and November was no exception. 191 new listings were reported in November 2017 versus 210 in November 2016 showing a 9% decline year over year. Year to Date (“YTD”) new listings were down 11% year over year with 3385 new listings reported by the end of November 2017 compared with 3802 that same time last year.

With a number of forces at play including lack of inventory and rising prices, the total number of sales for the month of November were down 23% from last November with 144 sales reported in November 2017 compared to 186 sales reported in November 2016. YTD sales were down 13% with 2279 sales reported by the end of November 2017 compared to 2623 in November 2016.

And despite fewer sales reported year over year, the average price of a single family residential home in the Western Region showed an increase of 7.8% from $500,091 in November 2016 to $539,505 in November 2017 likely due in part to increased or equal activity in sales of properties between $600,000 and $999,999. The Total Sales Dollar Volume for November 2017 was down 15% from November 2016. However, given the strong market performance throughout the year, the Total Sales Dollar Volume YTD was up 6% year over year.

Consistent with November statistics contained in this report, it’s not surprising to note that the average price of a residential single-family home in all municipalities across the Western Region was up year over year and the number of sales were down in all municipalities. The YTD average sale price in Collingwood in November 2017 was up 17.0%, $513,845 vs $439,052 in November 2016. The number of sales in Collingwood YTD was down 16.7% year over year. The Blue Mountains saw a 23.8% increase in average sale price YTD, $819,872 vs $662,292 year over year, making it the highest average sale price in the Western Region for the month of November. The Blue Mountains showed a slight 0.5% decrease in the number of homes sold in November 2017 vs November 2016. YTD, prices were up 24.4% in The Municipality of Meaford with November 2017 reporting an average sale price of $432,104 vs $347,289 in November 2016. The number of sales decreased 26.8% year over year. Grey Highlands reported a whopping 32.5% jump year over year, with the November 2017 price coming in at $631,374 vs $476,551 in November 2016. Sales were down 7.2%. Clearview saw a 13% increase in the average price, $558,899 over $494,741 year over year with a 28.9% decrease in the number of homes sold 2017 vs 2016. YTD, Wasaga Beach was up 22.4%, with the average sales price reported at $428,527 over $350,227 for November 2016. Sales were down 22.7% year over year.

The Sales-To-Listings Ratio is an important measure of the overall health of the real estate market and the balance between housing supply and demand. In November 2017, the ratio between the number of sales and new listings coming onto the market was 75.39, indicating that the SGBAR Western Region remained a tight Seller’s market. Notwithstanding that, this figure still marks a drop from the 88.57 sales to new listings ratio recorded in November 2016, a testament to the hectic market of one year ago and confirming that conditions have cooled from last November.

The pace of the November market was as moderate as the November temperatures were in the Western Region of Southern Georgian Bay. Inventory remained at record lows and a strong Sellers market prevailed. Overall most Buyers were more reserved than they were earlier in the year. However, with new lending guidelines effective January 1st, 2018 that will require borrowers who do not require mortgage insurance to qualify at a higher interest rate, Buyers may be motivated to act before the New Year.