April’s Real Estate Wake-Up Call
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April has come and gone and hopefully so has the strange weather patterns we have all seen, consisting of: torrential rains, hurricane winds and ice storms wreaking havoc.
Let's all look forward to warmer weather, sunshine and an ever-improving real estate market. Across the board we saw a positive shift in the "months of inventory" to a much more balanced market, and, in the cases of: Belleville and Quinte West, we are approaching a bit of a Seller's market with an increase in listing inventory but an even BIGGER number of homes sold for the month.
Here are some examples:
Belleville
Months of inventory went down 14% to 2.98. In the case of months of inventory, a downward trend is a good thing because it means more homes are selling and the over-supply of listings is going down. Belleville saw an increase of monthly sales of 32% compared to March.
Belleville: 32% more homes sold vs. March; inventory down 14%
Brighton
Brighton's months of inventory also went down by 17% to 5.8. Still a buyers market here but the number of solds for the month of April went up by 54% compared to the number of sales in March.
Brighton: Sales jumped 54%; still a buyer’s market but shifting.
Prince Edward County
PEC has struggled over the last year+ due to oversupply of inventory with lower number of sales, making it a strong Buyer's market. The months of inventory in PEC stayed pretty much the same at just over 9 months but the sales for the month of April were up 16%.
PEC: Sales up 16%, though inventory remains high.
Quinte West
Quinte West, being a more transient City due to the Military base (transfers in and out), continues to maintain its balanced market at 3.69 months of inventory. 258 homes are currently on the market but in the month of April, 70 sold, representing an increase of 11% for the month.
Quinte West: Balanced market continues; 11% increase in sales.
Stirling-Rawdon
Stirling area represents a much smaller market but their months of inventory went down from 7 months to a more balanced 4 months (a 43% drop). The important takeaway is that there was an increase of 130% for the number of sales in the month of April versus March. This is somewhat skewed seeing as there were only 7 sales in April.
Stirling: Sales doubled (small sample size); inventory dropped 43%.
“While the number of sales are up, there is an important figure that is down.” - Jason Ballas
AVERAGE SALE PRICE for the month of April was down in every sector, except Prince Edward County.
It tells me that there are more homes selling but the ones that are selling have been "price-corrected" to what the market will actually bear. The averages for the year haven't changed by a whole lot as one month on its own (April) does not change much the 3 month average before it.
It will be interesting to see what May has to offer.
My prediction is that the number of sales continues to rise in double digits and the average sale prices level out. Every indicator says that we are entering into a much more BALANCED MARKET for 2025.
Have questions about how these trends impact your buying or selling plans? Let’s chat — reach out anytime.
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