Market Update
For
Oxford County, Woodstock & Ingersoll
We are going to look at Real Estate numbers in two ways for this report.
1. YEAR TO DATE
(In other words January 1, 2015 to September 30, 2015 compared to the same time a year earlier)
a. Listing activity – the number of homes listed for sale since January
b. Unit Sales activity – the number of homes sold since January
c. Sales to Listings Selling Ratios – the percentage of homes that actually sell when listed for sale since January.
2. A TYPICAL YEAR –
(In other words {a 12 month rolling average} from October 1 2014 to September 30th 2015 compared to the same time period a year earlier).
1. Average Selling Prices - The average price of all homes sold since October 1, 2014
OXFORD COUNTY:
Sales of homes are really rocking across the County. The number of homes sold since the beginning of 2015 has increased by an incredible 17%. This means over 900 homes have sold in this 9 month period. Luckily for Buyers, there were 1182 homes listed for sale during this same period, keeping the overall market in balance! At the same time this was actually a decrease of 4.5% in the number of homes available for purchase for this 9 month period compared to a year earlier. Because of the dramatic increase in sales, 76% of all homes listed for sale since the start of the year sold. This is called the “List to Sale Sales Ratio”. Believe it or not, this number historically runs at just over 50%.
Finally let’s look at equity… Prices across Oxford County have increased by 3.1% reflecting an increase of $7,866 over the last 12 months. This means that the average price of a home in Oxford County now sits at $254,450 compared to $246,866 a year earlier.
What does all this mean?
The market slowed in September with the number of homes the sold actually dropping 15% for the month and inventories of new listings coming to market also dropped 16.4%. The factors that drove the spring/summer increases are still very much in play. There is no better time to buy, or make a change than right now. Interest rates are primed to stay low for a least one more year…This is not Toronto, our prices and options are still affordable and some of the best values in Canada. Remember that an increase of 10% on a $150,000 home is $15,000 making that home worth $165,000. An increase on a $250,000 home of 10% is $25,000 making that home worth $275,000. The spread is growing…
Our salaries don’t increase 3.1 /% per year….Therefore affordability gets further and further away the longer you wait. What is the best advice? Get into the market and start building equity soon than later.
WOODSTOCK
Because of its significance in the Oxford Market Woodstock is the driving force for the county. Woodstock accounts for 61.4% of the Residential Sales across Oxford County. Woodstock is also driving the sales increases across the county. The number of homes sold in Woodstock since the beginning of the year have increased a whopping 20.4%. This represents 554 homes sold. Inventories still out paced sales marginally at 682 homes listed for sale since January keeping the market in balance. The active inventory deceased 5.1% versus a year earlier. Anyone listing a home during this period actually had an 81% chance of selling their home. The average price of a home in Woodstock now sits at $249,928 an increase of $12,915 year over year for the last 12 months. This represents an increase of 5.4%. The conclusions are the same. Not participating in this market sooner than later will result less buying power over the years ahead as prices continue to outpace inflation and salary increases.
INGERSOLL
Sales of individual homes in Ingersoll have increased 13.4% during the first 9 months of 2015 to 161 units. Inventories of homes coming to market during this same period declined marginally by 3.7% to 205 homes listed during this period. The availability of homes was proportionally higher than the rest of the county. The result was a listing to sell ratio of 79% still above the average for the County. In spite of this higher list to sell ratio, home prices remained flat on a 12 month year over year selling average. The average home price for the 12 month period ending September 30, 2015 was $218,642 versus $222,704 for the same period a year ago. The average price difference between Woodstock and Ingersoll has now stretched to 14.3%. What does all this mean? The historical spread between the two markets is 10%. This would tend to indicate that homes are more aggressively priced (better overall value) in Ingersoll and therefore would be a better long term investment. Based on the surrounding markets there is no rationale for this price advantage.
Summary:
Excellent continued value opportunities in Oxford County and London St. Thomas. We now have some of the best value opportunities in all of Canada. The average house price in Hamilton – Burlington now sits at $480, 155, move 30 minutes west to Kitchener Waterloo, they now sit at $347,177. With a County wide average price of $254,450, we can only go up!
Gib Heggtveit & Mary Heggtveit
Broker & Sales Representative
RE/MAX Centre City Realty Inc.
Direct: 519-421-2626
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