The President of the Realtors Association of Grey Bruce Owen Sound reported the housing market has moved into more balanced territory.
Steve Dickie pointed to the 190 units sold in September of 2022, which is down by 41.4% from September 2021.
Dickie added the region has seen a market correction over the past several months, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the increase in interest rates.
“So those two things combined made home buyers certainly feel a little uncomfortable with their current situation,” he explained.
The average price of homes sold in September 2022 was $655,031, a moderate decrease of 6% from September 2021. Dickie said prices have been declining ever since March 2022. He said we were in a very deep curve going up before that due to the pandemic and low interest rates.
“Once demand eases off, prices start to come down. And we saw some significant price reductions since the spring. Now when I look at the September numbers, I kind of was hoping this was going to happen. It’s starting to level off. So the initial downturn is coming to an end and we look like we’re going to level off,” he added.
Dickie pointed out the MLS benchmark price for single-family homes was $581,900, up by 5.4% on a year-over-year basis in September. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $591,000, an increase of 22.2% compared to a year earlier.
“A lot of people who would have liked to have had a single family home before, now that the rates are a little bit higher, prices have gone up, and they can’t get the single family home anymore. The townhouses are typically cheaper than a single family house would be, so that increases interest in those markets,” he said.
