It’s always a good idea to look at recent homes sales when you’re thinking of buying or selling a property to get an idea as to how the market is performing. By assessing how well homes are selling right now you can make a better decision on whether you should list your home for sale or wait. Likewise, if you’re buying, looking at how well the market is performing can tell you whether now’s a good time to buy. Of course, this is all relatively speaking – we can never know for sure how quickly a home will sell, and what price it will sell for, but hopefully our tips below will help you to make an informed decision.
Good Time to List
Recent homes sales can tell us if now is a good time to list your home for sale. Real estate in every town in Canada is overseen by a real estate board; here in Oakville we come under the Oakville, Milton and District Real Estate Board. These boards publish monthly statistics on home sales, showing us the number of sales in a month, the value of sales, and the average number of days on the market. This last statistic is a good one to take note of because if homes are taking longer than normal to sell it could mean the market is flooded with properties. Obviously the more homes that are listed, the more competition there is between those homes. If there are more homes for sale than there are buyers, homes will take longer to sell.
The time of year always has an impact on homes sales anyway – with the peak time across most of the country being spring and summer, and winter being the slowest time of year. Canadians prefer to move house when it’s warmer outside but this isn’t always possible. If you have to buy or sell a home due to family commitments or work it could be at any time of the year.
Good Time to Buy
From a buyer’s point of view usually the opposite of what was said above applies. A buyer wants the market to be slow, with fewer homes sales because this usually means two things: first, it means there are probably more homes available right now. This gives a buyer a better choice, allowing you to be more selective about the home you choose and potentially disregarding those that don’t exactly meet your criteria.
Secondly, it will likely mean you can get a better deal on a home. If homes are stuck on the market for longer than normal sellers are more likely to accept lower offers.
On the flip side, when recent homes sales are high buyers have to move fast. There will be more competition for each home so if you see a home you like you should be prepared to make good offers with little in the way of conditions.
Recent Homes Sales in Oakville
Here in Oakville the market is picking up as we come into spring. March saw 209 detached home sales, compared to 138 in February and 103 in January, and the average days on market is around 30. Freehold semi, link and townhouse sales have almost doubled in March compared to February and their average days on market is only 19 days. And finally, condo apartment and townhouse sales have stayed static at 42 in both February and March, taking around 4 weeks to sell from listing.
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