Halton Hills Housing Update - Ep.192

Hi everyone! Welcome to this week's Halton Hills housing update. So, what I'm calling the mass exodus of listings is still continuing right now. Our inventory numbers are dropping, which is, I guess, a good thing for sellers although we’re still sitting very high. The numbers are a little skewed each week though because of how many properties are coming off the market as opposed to selling. So, in Georgetown last week there were eight sales and eight new listings. We typically start to see things slow down in November and that’s exactly what’s happening. In the past few months we had weeks where we saw 20+ new listings so to only have eight new listings and eight sales is good news for sellers. The influx of new listings has finally slowed down. 

In Acton this week there were two sales and three new listings, which is not a bad week for Acton. Glen Williams had one sale and no new listings. There were no sales or new listings in Limehouse or the rural market. This is the first time in a while where we haven’t seen anything happen in the rural market and it is pretty saturated right now. 

One thing I’ve been noting each week is the number of listings that are making adjustments, whether that’s coming off the market or changing prices. So last week in all of Halton Hills we had 22 properties that came up in the expired/terminated/suspended listing category and of the 22, 11 of them came off the market and have not re-listed. So, even though we had 11 sales and 10 new listings in Halton Hills, our inventory has dropped a lot more than that because of these properties. Of the other 11, ten of them reduced their price, one reducing by $200,000 and another by $250,000 and they are holding offers (we all know how I feel about that strategy in this market), so it will be interesting because buyers are not responding to that. If you go from $1,250,000 to $999,900, no one is going to offer $1.2 million for your property. You’re likely just getting closer to the actual value of your home. It’s just a really interesting time right now and I’m going to watch these properties to see what the outcome is. The last property that was in this category actually listed higher because they had tried the holding offer strategy and it did not work. So, overall there were 11 properties that left the market, ten that reduced their price, and of the ten, eight of them actually reduced their price, and the other two are playing the offer night game, and then one who had tried offer night and re-listed higher. There is a lot of back end activity right now and when the market is busy I don’t normally cover these numbers because they’re not very interesting. It’s definitely not a great market to be selling your house in but there are a lot of people who have to sell, which makes it an interesting time for buyers to get a good deal. 

So, looking at active inventory, last week all of Halton Hills was at 221 and this week we are down to 210, which is still insanely high compared to where we came from last year, but 210 is a far cry from the 230 we saw a few weeks ago. I really thought we were going to continue to see listings going up, but with the number of properties coming off the market, it’s just not happening. I think we may have hit our peak around 230 but we will see what happens. In Georgetown last week there were 136 active listings. This week we are down to 127 and that is mainly due to the properties that are coming off the market. Every price point saw a drop last week. Under $800,000 went from 17 to 16 active listings and there are still a ton of condo townhouses and condo apartments. Eight hundred thousand to a million went from 36 to 34 and its good that this price point is dropping because it was sitting extremely high but 34 is still a lot. One to 1.5 million is down from 55 to 52 active listings. This price point is really had to navigate because this is where we’re seeing the most price adjustments. If you’re listed just over a million, your buyer pool shrinks because you can only cater to buyers who have 20% down, so there are less buyers there than under a million. It’s also tricky because there are some bungalows in the Delrex area asking over a million, but then you also have decent sized detached homes in Georgetown south getting less than 1.2 million. The numbers just don't make sense right now. 1.5 million plus went from 26 to 25 active listings and there are a lot of homes coming off the market in this pocket. It’s extremely dead right now and they are barely seeing any sales. It’s just a really tricky price point to navigate because there aren’t a lot of buyers there.  

In Acton this week, it went up from 26 to 27 active listings. It’s nothing crazy but still sitting very high. Typically Acton us under 15 active listings so there is a lot of stuff available right now, especially under $1,000,000. Glen Williams is down from 12 to ten active listings. Limehouse stayed the same at one and the rural market is down from 46 to 45. Forty five listings is HUGE for the rural market but the starting price is 1.2 million, so everything available is in a somewhat dead price point, which makes it hard. We’re seeing a lot of homes coming off the market here also because it’s a bad time to sell and there’s no way around that. I think a lot of people are hoping that come spring (if interest rates don’t go up), the market will hopefully bounce back. The biggest factor that will change the market is if inventory can come down. December is normally a very quiet month for real estate so hopefully sellers who need to sell can do so in November. Once December 1st comes, it gets really difficult to find a buyer for about six to eight weeks.

Overall, our market is doing a bit better than even four weeks ago, because it feels like inventory is starting to get more in control. This week definitely had some positive points and we are still seeing a decent number of sales in Georgetown for this time of year. It’s when sales die off that the whole market feels it. I still don’t think it’s the best time to sell if you don’t have to but if you are a buyer, I think now is a great time to get out there and shoot your shot! I had a client last week who got a house for almost $100,000 under asking just because he shot his shot and the sellers needed to sell. That can happen to a lot of properties right now so it’s good to try! 

So, I will be back next Tuesday. Have a great week!