Residential
sales in the area served by the Real Estate Board of the
Fredericton Area Inc. rose to the highest level on record for
the month of December in 2009. The record-breaking end to the
year pulled annual activity just ahead of 2008
levels.
Home
sales numbered 106 units in December 2009, up seven per cent
from the same month in 2008. It was the best December on
record for sales activity. Provincial sales activity, by comparison,
was up 15 per cent from a year
earlier.
Year-to-date
activity had been trailing 2008 levels right up until the end
of November. However, the surge in sales in December nudged
annual activity in 2009 just above levels reported in 2008.
Activity totalled 2,166
units in 2009, just six sales more than in the previous
year.
“A
record December was an excellent end to the year,”
said Diana Otteson, President of the Real
Estate Board of the Fredericton Area Inc.
“We expect some of that
momentum to carry forward into the new year.”
The
average price for home sales was $136,999 in December 2009.
While this was a two per cent decrease from a year earlier,
the decline was likely the result of a bounce in sales priced
below $40,000 compared to one year ago. On an annual basis, the average price
for all homes sold in Fredericton in 2009 was $159,219. This
is a new annual record, up five per cent from
2008.
The
average price for home sales in New Brunswick was up five per
cent year-over-year to $148,559 in December
2009.
The
value of all residential sales activity in December 2009
amounted to $14.5 million, rising five per cent
year-over-year. The dollar value of all home sales in 2009
totalled $344.9 million, also up five per cent from 2008. By
comparison, the monthly dollar
volume of residential sales in New Brunswick increased 21 per
cent from the previous December.
Total
sales activity numbered 121 units in December, up five per
cent from a year earlier. The combined value of all property
sales in Fredericton totalled $15.2 million, edging up one per
cent from December 2008.
New
listings on the Board’s MLS® System numbered 177 units in
December 2009, up 11 per cent from year-ago levels. New
residential listings had previously declined for six
consecutive months.
Active
listings continue to trend lower from peak levels in 2008.
There were 909 active residential listings on the Board’s MLS®
System at the end of December 2009, down 15 per cent from a
year earlier. This is the third double-digit decline, and
represents the first time in two years that month-end supply
has fallen below 1,000 units.
There
were 8.6 months of inventory at the end of December, which is
down from levels reported from one year earlier (10.8 months).
The
number of months of inventory is the number of months it would
take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales
activity.
