Orangeville Real Estate Market Stats – March 2020

From a real estate perspective, March came in like a lion and out like a … I’m not sure what to call it. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken our community and the world and has turned many peoples lives upside down. As we all try to stay healthy and safe by following the physical distancing recommendations from our health professionals and governments, the real estate business continues to operate but things are far from business as usual.

March started very strong and the number of new listings was trending ahead of last year at this time and sales activity was showing the signs of an active spring market in Orangeville. As concerns of the COVID-19 virus began to unfold and physical distancing recommendations began to come into effect, understandably, real estate activity slowed considerably.

With the changes in the world, the real estate market stats show a slow down in activity as compared to the same period last year. On a year-to-date basis, the first quarter of 2020 is a little bit ahead of where we were at this time in 2019. The outlook going forward is for significantly less activity in the coming months as everyone is doing their best to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Month of March

The month of March started with an increase in activity over a year ago but in the last two weeks of the month, we saw a large decrease in activity in the real estate market.

There were 73 resale homes listed for sale in the month of March 2020, an 18.89% decrease from the 90 homes listed for sale in March of 2019.

The number of sales in the month of March saw a decrease of 9.26% with 49 sales as compared to 54 sales in March last year.

The average sales price continues to be higher in 2020. For the month of March, the average sales price was $615,760 a 4.86% increase over the $587,233 in March of 2019.

The average days on market showed a large decrease to 14 days from 26 the year prior which is a signal that buyers that were active did continue to respond to new listings quickly.

At the end of March, there was a very low inventory with 52 resale homes available on the market as compared to 80 at this time last year, a decrease of 35.00%.

Year-to-Date - The First Quarter 2020

On a year-to-date basis, there was a little more activity in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to the first quarter of 2019, but this trend will not continue into the start of the second quarter.

There have been 135 transactions in Orangeville in the first quarter, an increase of 15.38% over the 117 sales in the first quarter of 2019. The percentage increase has come down from the number just one month ago and we will see a significant decrease in the volume of transactions in April and likely for much of the second quarter.

The average days on market remained very low in March and with 17 days on market for the average sale. There were signs of a very busy spring market prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The average sales price for the first quarter of 2020 was $606,124 which is an 8.56% increase compared to the average sales price of $558,328 in the first quarter of 2019.

What Does All This Mean?

At this point, the real estate stats don’t carry a lot of meaning. The spread of COVID-19 has been on the forefront of everyone’s mind, many people who were thinking of buying or selling real estate have turned their focus to the health and safety of their families.

There is so much uncertainty in the world right now, it is hard to know what things will look like in the real estate market when the physical distancing recommendations have ended and it is considered safe to return to interacting with one another in a more traditional way. I think how long we are facing this pandemic will be the key factor in what happens in our local real estate market in the long run.

I do expect that real estate will continue to hold value over the long run and we may see more investment in real estate given what has happened to the world’s financial markets. However, it is unclear what will happen with prices and activity over the short term.

If you have any questions about how the current real estate market conditions may affect your own situation please do not hesitate to reach out anytime to discuss, we can have a coffee over a video chat or a phone call.

Stay healthy and safe.