The
resale housing market in Newfoundland ended the year on a high
note, with sales climbing to the highest level on record for
the month of December. The average sale price also scaled new
heights in December.
According
to statistics provided by the Newfoundland and Labrador
Association of REALTORS®, 399 homes were sold through the MLS®
System in December 2009. This was a record for December sales,
up 42 per cent from the same month on 2008.
Nationally,
home sales jumped 72 per cent from one year earlier, which
was, in part, a reflection of last year’s weak
showing.
Despite
the uptick in home sales toward end of 2009, annual home sales
in Newfoundland were down from the peak in 2008. A total of
4,416 homes traded hands in 2009, down six per cent from the
previous year. Annual activity also stood slightly below
levels reported in 2007.
Monthly
residential activity in St. John’s was up 39 per cent
year-over-year, compared to an increase of 44 per cent for the
rest of the province. Single detached home sales activity in
St. John’s was up 16 per cent year-over-year in December
2009.
Activity
increased significantly above $225,000, rising 62 per cent for
transactions priced $225,000 to $300,000. The number of days
on market for sales priced above $300,000 was 153.5 days, up
44 days compared to December 2008. The median number of days
on market for transactions priced $75,000 to $150,000 shrank
to 36 days in December 2009, down 48 days from a year
earlier.
The
residential average price for homes sold in Newfoundland rose
to the highest level on record in December. The average price
for home sales in December 2009 was $231,107. This is an
increase of 12 per cent from a year earlier, and represents
the 33rd consecutive month in which average price
has risen from year-ago levels. The national average price was
up 19 per cent from a year earlier to
$337,410.
On
an annual basis, the provincial average price rose 16 per cent
to $206,374 in 2009 – also a record.
The
dollar value of all home sales in the province amounted to
$92.2 million in December 2009, up 59 per cent from a year
earlier. This is the highest dollar volume on record for the
month of December. The total dollar value of all homes sold in
2009 was $911.3 million, rising nine per cent from 2008.
New
residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System were
down 20 per cent from one year earlier to 240 units in
December. This is the fourth consecutive decline in new
listings. Active residential listings numbered 1,220 units at
the end of December 2009, dropping 10 per cent year-over-year.
This is the first decline in a year.
There
were 3.1 months of inventory at the end of December 2009, the
lowest level since October 2008.
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.
