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Much calmer housing market in 2018 over 'crazy days' of 2017, says local real estate prez

About 15 per cent fewer homes were sold in Guelph in 2018 than in the previous year, but the average price of homes is increasing slightly
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You can stage your home on your own, but sometimes it takes that professional touch to get the ‘You’ out of your home and open buyer’s eyes to the possibilities.  (MCC)

The real estate market in Guelph calmed in 2018 after the skyrocketing prices of 2017, says the outgoing president of the Guelph & District Association of Realtors, but house prices at the end of 2018 were up slightly from the same month the year before.

The average price of a single detached home in Guelph continues to rise month over month at $541,303 for December, though not quite as high as its peak in spring of 2017, when the average price neared $600,000.

"The overall theme of 2018, I would call it a far more balanced market or at least coming toward a more balanced market. It was far less volatile than 2017 was,” said Kristi Mercier, 2018 association president.

A balanced market is neither a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, but one where supply is meeting demand.

"Early in 2017 we saw a big demand and not a lot of supply, so we had a lot of competition for listings — it caused a big uptick in prices and it caused a lot of stress for buyers, and their realtors, for that matter. Things have basically been settling down, which is great,” said Mercier. "A more balanced market is just more fair to everybody.”

In 2018, a total of 2,851 single-family homes was sold in Guelph, down 14.6 per cent from the year before. “It may also be one of the reasons fewer homes are changing hands over and above the mortgage stress test and rising interest rates.”

“Even with fewer sales in 2018, the persistence of that supply shortage is keeping some pressure on prices,” said Mercier.

Looking at the year as a whole, the average price of a single-family home in Guelph edged up just 0.4 per cent over the 2017 figure at $530,247.

"One of the challenges with going from the craziness that we saw in 2017 to what we saw developing through 2018 — that settling down of things — our clients are still remembering those crazy days, so managing their expectations has been more important than ever," said Mercier.

The average cost of a single-family home has increased slightly every month from October to December.

The incoming president of the association said its encouraging that house prices are going up, even as the number of sales is decreasing.

“As we see the supply diminish, the prices are holding. I don’t know how that is going to change over the next couple of months, it’s something we will be keeping an eye on,” said Christianne Child, 2019 president for the Guelph and District Association of Realtors. “It will be interesting to see what happens in the first few months of the year.”

Although the number of listings was down in 2018 versus 2017, the number of houses on the market, known as inventory, has increased. It is measured in the amount of months it would take to sell the current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

In December of 2017 there was about 1.6 months of inventory in Guelph.

"I think the number one thing we have to let our sellers know is our inventory is at 2.1 months, so it might just take a little bit longer to sell their house than in 2017,” said Child.


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Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
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