The number of
homes sold in the region serviced by the Newfoundland and
Labrador Association of REALTORS® came in well above year-ago
levels in December 2011, with activity reaching the second
highest level on record for the month. The strong end to the
year pushed the annual sales figure just ahead of 2007, making
2011 the second best year on record for home sales in the
province.
Home sales
numbered 374 units in December, rising 26 per cent above
levels reported in December 2010. This stands above every
other December sales figure on record with the exception of
December 2009. Nationally, home sales were up five per cent on
a year-over-year basis in December.
Residential
activity in St. John’s was up 22 per cent on a year-over-year
basis in December, while activity in the rest of the province
increased by 28 per cent. Single detached home sales in St.
John’s were up 31 per cent from levels recorded in December
2010.
Transactions in
the range from $150,000 to $250,000 were up 13 per cent, while
sales priced between $250,000 and $350,000 were up 29 per
cent. Sales in the price range from $350,000 to $500,000 rose
49 per cent, and sales in the range above $500,000 more than
doubled compared to a year earlier.
Some 4,480 homes
traded hands across the province in 2011, up six per cent from
levels in 2010. The annual figure of sales for 2011 marks the
second best year on record. The record was set in
2008.
The average
price for homes sold in Newfoundland in December 2011 was
$258,750, up one per cent from a year earlier. The national
average price was $347,801 in December 2011, also up one per
cent from December 2010.
The dollar value
of home sales in the province amounted to $96.8 million in
December 2011, rising 27 per cent from a year
earlier.
The number
of new residential listings on the
Association’s MLS® System was down seven per cent from a year
earlier to 328 units in December.
The overall supply of homes on the market remains
at elevated levels, although it has been relatively stable at
those levels for more than a year. Active residential listings
numbered 1,791 units at the end of December 2011, up two per
cent from the same time a year earlier.
There were 5.8
months of inventory at the end of December 2011 on a
seasonally adjusted basis, down slightly from 5.9 months at
the end of November. 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.
