suzied.ca

August 2008

First off, let me reassure you all that I haven’t developed a french accent or a penchant for throwing random lettering in… any oddities in the typeset are yet unexplained by my internet tech…grrrrrrr. Hopefully you can ignore them and get the gist of my content

The latest stats for July 2008 are in… and despite much speculation and anticipation, the average sale price continues to defy gravity! The average sale price is still in the 512,000 range for single family homes in the Central Okanagan…  While we are hearing daily about listings dropping their asking price rapidly, and the occasional story of a crazy list to sell ratio ( lower mission, was asking 699,000 - sold for 600,000) overall these stories are the exception not the rule.  The over supplied market is the biggest story of all - as only 1 in 13 listings is resulting in a sale! Those that are successful are pricing at last years levels, presenting themselves competitively on the market closest to that eventual sale price, and are in top condition - or priced accordingly. Likely the home in the Lower Mission was overpriced to begin with, and a prudent buyer recognized that.  It isn’t necessarily the deal of the year to get an overpriced home for market value, just surprising to find that kind of a meeting of the minds!

The average sale price has remained relatively high on average -94.4% of asking price. Which means a home listed for $500,000 would sell for around 475,000.  This is a normal market in national terms, but the mindset of the average Okanagan homeowner is much different, and a bit shocked at this change! We all remember the days of multiple offers, written on the hood of your car, within hours of a hot property hitting the market! But that is what makes real estate interesting, it isn’t a flat commodity… there’s ups, there’s downs… there’s times that favour building, and times that favour the resale market. There’s markets that encourage speculation, and markets where investors are walking from deposits and leaving developers with product they thought was sold…

Out shopping for a new purse today, I got quizzed by the shop owner about WHAT IS Happening to pricing???? Almost panic driven, you could sense her desire to protect and cling to her perceived wealth in terms of equity in her home.  Rest assured, we are still one of Canada’s most desirable housing markets.  People are continuing to move here, get divorced, get married, have kids, move up, move down…. and die. All these changes result in a turnover of product.  While this turnover seems to have slowed due to a huge influx of speculative building and investors riding the wave and wanting to cash out, we are still a thriving economy and far from a recession.  Our pricing is on par with last year… and last year was a good year to own real estate in our value. Let’s keep it in perspective people.

 And please, if you want to sell your house - be ready to compete! If you are wanting to invest - do it! The time couldn’t be better. Just like we never new that the high hit in  Feb/ March of 2008… we won’t know we’re at the bottom until we start to climb again. The markets that are likely to bounce back the fastest are the single family, under $500,000.  Condos will likely be a rough ride for a while - unless you can find one that is affordable, immaculate and in a fabulous area…. CHECK out my new listing…for $269,900.  Although it isn’t rentable, it is a fabulous entry level condo!

Enjoy the balance of your summer! Cheers, Suzie