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樓主 / 不怕沒柴燒
- 時間: 2020-12-31 13:05
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- 時間: 2020-12-31 13:06
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- 時間: 2020-12-31 13:08Good Bye 2020!
This has been a year for the record books in so many ways. As we prepare to bid 2020 farewell here’s a review of what we saw on the Real Estate market through it all.
As we start each year we never know what really is instore for what lies ahead - yet we look at the years that passed and plan accordingly. In the Real Estate market 2020 started off like the past few years - it was a slightly softening sellers market and we anticipated a strong spring market.
As we watched from mid December forward as word of a novel (new) corona (named for the crowns … not the beverage) virus was making the news. Although it seemed so distant it seemed to me that it’s spread around the world was inevitable - if a controlling society like China couldn’t contain it what chance would the Western Free world have of restraining it. It’s arrival in March was a rude awakening as the World feared happening locally what was seen occurring in Italy.
Meanwhile, in Nanaimo (and across Canada) we were all sent home mid March and the streets were deserted and the Real Estate market sort of stopped. Real Estate is a strange creature that happens in frantic spurts - the search for a home for the buyer (or the initial rush of viewings for a new listing) is a very busy time. Once there is an accepted offer the visible process slows while the due diligence happens and once subjects are removed an average of 70 days passes from the day the contract was written until the completion of the sale occurs followed by possession.
There was a lot of uncertainty from late March through the months ahead. As businesses shuddered and workers faced layoffs and work from home we wondered if financing would start to fail on existing deals. We watched the news of the economy and quite rapidly stories surfaced of retail stores starting failing.
From mid March through mid April the Real Estate activity felt like it went almost silent. The graph below shows the number of sales that occurred. During this time the different Real Estate public websites were sending us their viewing statistics which showed that people weren’t even browsing homes. It was as though fear crippled the masses and even dreaming was dampened by the mystery of what the future would unveil.
As though the market was trying to make up for lost time by June the market was on fire significantly exceeding the past 2 years and reaching the number of sales we saw in 2017.
In my last newsletter back in May I predicted that we would be going into a slow period and that prices would be dropping - that didn’t happen at all - and still isn’t. The average price of homes has steadily increased and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
What’s Happening Now?
Today I took a look at the current pending sales (homes that have had subjects removed but haven’t completed yet) and there are 150 homes in this status.
Here are the average stats on this batch:
Sale price: $740,207
# of Bedrooms: 4
# of Bathrooms: 3
Age: 1989
Size of House: 2326 sqft
Size of Lot: 25,316 sqft (0.58 acres)
Days on the market: 32
Days from Accepted offer to Possession: 74
What’s Next?
There is still very much uncertainty, but with the rollout of the vaccines there is hope that wasn’t there before. Although we will still be masked for awhile, it looks to me like 2021 will be a year of reset. Many workers, and employers, have learned that remote working is a viable option - if that trend holds it will free people from larger centers to work in other areas that may be more cost effective for living - like Nanaimo. Industries like tourism and non-essential retail have been hit hard while many other industries never stopped through 2020 at all.
The inventory levels in Nanaimo are extremely low - which is great for sellers - yet very challenging for buyers. Until inventory levels increase there won’t be much changing. Buyers will have to expect for the market to be a challenge for while and be quick to jump on listings as they arrive on the market. Sellers will continue to benefit..
再見 2020年溫島火爆的房市
