What a difference a few weeks can make.
In local real estate, the average sale price amongst all homes increased by 15% when compared to December.
“This is a huge increase for just one month,” says Trish Lewis, Sales Representative, GoWylde Team/ReMax. “The only type of home that saw a decrease was condos, which fell by 3%. This is not exactly an accurate stat though, as only two condos sold in the city of Cambridge in January.”
While the number of homes sold in January was indeed historically low, it was still up from December. “You have to take this increase with a grain of salt, however, because the number of homes sold was so low. That means if more higher-end homes sold this month, it can dramatically skew that number,” warns Lewis. “We are definitely trending in the right direction though, and on average homes sold for 99% of their list price.”
The average sale price across all housing categories was $785,175. For detached homes, that figure was $826,380, for attached houses it was $697,773, and for condos and apartments it was $435,000. Last month there was also 2.03 months of inventory available.
This is definitely a big change since the previous month’s market report.
Of course, the Bank of Canada raised the overnight interest rate for the 8th time in 12 months on January 25th, and it now sits at 4.5%. The good news? Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem has indicated that they will pause on implementing further interest rate hikes, stating that inflation is showing signs of “turning the corner” and that the coming year “will be different”.
According to the BOC, the next scheduled date to announce the overnight rate target is March 8, 2023. The bank is expected to publish its next full outlook for both the economy and inflation on April 12.
Many analysts anticipate that the rate will remain at this level for the next several months, and that we will finally see interest rates begin to fall by the end of this year or in early 2024.
Advises Lewis, “If you buy in this market, you may not want to lock into a fixed mortgage for too long, so you can take advantage of anticipated lower rates next year.”
For more information, or to contact real estate agents Mary Wylde and Trish Lewis, visit the GoWylde Team or call 519-826-7109.