Real estate market update for a month of April

On May 3, 2006 Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported a new market statistics for residential real estate for the month of April. Here is a summary of key statistics:

Transactions:

• Amount of Homes Sold in April 2006 8,361
• Amount of Homes Sold in April 2005 8,834
• Amount of Homes Sold in March 2006 7,904
• Amount of Homes Sold for year up to date 28,020

Prices

• Average Price in April 2006 $366,000
• Average Price in April 2005 $342,000
• Average Price in March 2006 $342,000

Listings

• Amount of new listings in April 2006 15,419
• Amount of new listings in April 2005 16,161
• Amount of new listings in March 2006 16,457
• Amount of listings for year up to date 2006 25,245
• Amount of listing for up to date in 2005 20,633

My commentary:

Even though sales are pretty strong I think we are moving to seller's market. I support my idea simply: the amount of new listings from the new year rose by 22% comparably to a last year, while amount of sales in April decreased by 5% comparably to a last year. As you can see more houses are being put up on sale, and less are sold. That's why I suggest to homeowners who considered selling their house, doing it now, because the more we move towards seller's market the more time your house will stay on a market before it is sold.

For buyers I would say it is a good news, since more sellers will be competing for your money. However, I wouldn't suggest to people, considering buying a home, to wait. The reason for that is that mortgages are going up, and in order to make sellers compete for you, you got to be able to afford one.

If you need more detailed information or commentary contact me, and you can also check out the full report here:

Good luck to everybody