During the February peak the market indicated a ballpark listing supply of less than a month.

In September listing inventory increased substantially: Overall just under 4 months supply, with a low of 2.7 months in St. Catharines to about 6.3 months in Fort Erie, all others being in between. Selling within one week is virtually no longer there.

So What Are the Takeaways?

• First and foremost, why are you selling? You need a good reason to sell. This can best be discovered through a needs analysis with your REALTOR®. Without a strong reason for selling, the list price can typically be reflective of wishful thinking.
• Second, in a tight market pricing is critical. The list price has to have the ability to attract buyer attention. This means a well-prepared valuation by the agent and the seller’s flexibility and cooperation to price the listing aggressively.
• Third, one needs to exercise patience and adjust the price if needed. A successful sale is a team effort between you and your REALTOR. Pricing is the first essential marketing step.

As most people know by now, real estate sale prices have taken a tumble. Over the last 6 to 7 months, the prospect of buyers competing for the same property has substantially decreased and is now down to a trickle if at all. As well, during the recent market period when competing was the norm, the sale price tended to be well above the list price with many sold listings. Sale prices ranged from 100% of the list to 110% and higher, an unsustainable circumstance.

Traditionally in a balanced or normal market, the sale price to list price percentage has tended to hover around 95% and even 97%. In September of 2022, of the homes sold, the percentage of the sale price to list price for Niagara dropped to about 95.9% overall. Of course, this varies depending on the municipality, but it tends to range between 95.5% and 95.8% for most municipalities. To date, this is somewhat indicative of traditional, somewhat stable markets.

Here, however, are some interesting pieces of market information. In September the average listing price of all active listing inventory compared to the sale price varied considerably, somewhere around 32% to 35% above average sold prices, with some municipalities being even higher. So the question this disparity elicits is as follows:
If the few homes that sold indicated a sale price of around 95% of the list price, what chance would many of the homes for sale have of selling with such a drastic variance as above?

We will continue this Monday on this topic. Stay tuned!