Reflecting on the past year, the reality is that the market has changed dramatically from a year ago. However, as many talk doom and gloom consumers are still out spending. Visit Cactus Club for lunch, Orchard Park mall on the weekend or Costco and you will notice how busy it is.
In talking with agents across Canada this consumer spending is occurring across the country. Some analysts believe this is due to savings accumulated over Covid and many insist that although inflation has increased the job market is so strong many are not worried. Our unemployment rate across Canada has lowered to 5% compared to 6.5% last year and the long-term average of 8.11%. The Canadian economy created 150,0000 jobs in January and weekly earnings increased 4.2% in 2022. What does this mean for our local real estate market? It means buyers are not shying away from making a purchase decision, the challenge we find is the bottleneck in the marketplace with limited inventory. There is buyer demand for properties that are positioned properly and we have homeowners that want to make a move but can’t find something to move into, so they are waiting. This is all creating a bottleneck that will only disappear once we have more inventory to choose from.
Our sales were down significantly in January, yet February has started fairly strong with the first 2 weeks of the month outperforming all of January. We feel this trend may continue if we have more inventory come onto the market. Buyers on a timeline for purchasing may have to make sacrifices in their needs and wants and at times be at the mercy of the sellers demands. If you are considering a move – now is a good time to consider listing with such little competition.
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Thank you,
Shannon & Tamara
