It's a wrap

Another year come and gone - The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)announced that 2010 ended up as the third best year for existing home sales... it was however not a typical year following traditional patterns for sales.

Following is a brief synopsis of the year just passed.

The December 2010 Market Watch from TREB Revealed a balanced market at year end. Prices overall in 2010 were up 9% compared to 2009. However we began the year generally up 20%, compared to the lows from the recession and generally ended the year up about 5% compared to year earlier periods.

Sales volumes were very high in the first part of the year with very low inventories. Sales volumes then tailed of dramatically during the summer as a result of mortgage rule changes, consumer concerns about increasing mortgage rates and confusion over the HST.

As fall approached it became clear interest rates remained at historic lows, that the HST did not impact the cost of buying in any substantial way and buyers returned to the market. The inventory of available homes remained steady but did not increase dramatically provinding an overall foundation for the market. As a result most of the fall was a balanced market with prices moving sideways and were generally 5% higher than fall 2009. Properly prepared, priced and marketed properties continued to sell, however by year end the Average days on market had increased to 37 from the year earlier period of just 27 days. With multiple offer scenarior's being the exception rather than the rule Realtor's and Sellers had to adjust their expectations on what and how long it took for even the best properties to sell.

Overall 2010 was an excellent year for real estate and has established a sustainable trend for the year ahead. Next post i'll offer up my thoughts for the year ahead and why the next couple of months may be the ideal time to sell.