(Ontario Real Estate Source)
By Brian Madigan LL.B.
The sales in the GTA for single family homes held relatively steady in December.
So many times, December 2010 is compared to December 2009. But, actually the true measure should be the month of December in the last few years.
Let's see how many homes have sold in the month of December since 2004:
2004..........4,232
2005..........4,255
2006..........4,447
2007..........4,646
2008..........2,577
2009..........5,541
2010..........4,395
The average number of sales is 4,299. So, December 2010 is 2.23% higher than the average over the last seven years. It is risky to go back much further than that since the population was smaller.
However, it is even riskier to compare it to December 2009. That would show a 20.68% decrease. There were 1,146 fewer sales in the month of December 2010, than the month of December 2009.
That's really not that many, and it doesn't spell doom.
You have to remember that there was a world wide financial crisis in October 2008. The stock market had lost half its value. When 2009 started off the automotive industry was on the brink of bankruptcy. People weren't buying homes. The economy settled down following the government bailouts and the housing market normalized. But, by then there was a lot of pent-up demand from the Spring. Consequently, December 2009 was a trend setting month in a year that recorded the highest number of sales ever.
So, what does that mean? It simply means that December 2009 was a great month. It doesn't mean that December 2010 was a bad month showing numbers that are 20% off the market.
If you look at the numbers closely, you will see that it was rather steady and normal. You always have to look behind the headlines. All in all, this looks good for an active Spring market.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker is an author and commentator on real estate matters, if you are interested in residential or commercial properties in Mississauga, Toronto or the GTA, you may contact him through Royal LePage Innovators Realty, Brokerage 905-796-8888
www.OntarioRealEstateSource.com
