Have you heard enough about COVID-19?
As many of us have, you are bombarded with news about the pandemic that is changing the world, at least temporarily. No much is staying the same and it certainly is business as usual in the real estate market.
Sales are down and there is no better way to show this to you that the March statistics below which compare March 2019 to March 202 week by week.(Ottawa Real Estate Board). What you see is the clear affect of COVID-19 on sales.
Residential Sales
March 1-7: increase of 5%
March 8-14: increase of 43%
March 15-21: increase of 8%
March 22-28: decrease of 19%
March 29-31: decrease of 43%
Condo Sales
March 1-7: increase of 41%
March 8-14: increase of 2%
March 15-21: increase of 9%
March 22-28: decrease of 36%
March 29-31: decrease of 51%
In our branch alone the number of showings has dropped dramatically from 168 showing of properties between March 15-21, 2020 and just 66 showings from March 22-28, 2020. This all points to a slowdown in the market driven only by the pandemic situation we find ourselves in.
And, you would think that prices are dropping like a stone. Well they are not in many cases. What the pandemic has done is created an even large shortage of homes for sale. Many potential sellers have decided not to move forward and wait till life comes back to normal. Builders can only finish homes that have already had their foundations poured. This will create long delays for many new home buyers. These buyers that have a home to sell will now delay getting their homes on the market. So you can quickly see why there will be a large shortage of available homes to purchase.
If your selling it actually can be a very good time, but we only recommend you go to market is you have to. Job transfer, financial issues or other life events may make selling now important. If that is the case the value of your may not have dropped at all and in fact may be worth a little more. In the last couple of weeks we have had a buyer who was in competition to purchase a home and paid a bit over asking. We then turned around and sold that persons home for $15,000 over asking in just 2 days with competing offers.
The buyers out there now are serious. Yes, the number of showings are way down but those buyers who are in the market are not just browsing or “kicking the tires”. They need a home and are ready to buy.
There are lots of thing we do to keep buyers, sellers and agents safe at this time. We can review all of that and much more if you are thinking of buying and selling. Just give us a call or write. We’re here to help!
Leave a Reply
