Now that Halloween is behind us and the time has come to turn back the clocks this weekend, it’s the world of marketing and retail sales that will keep us focused on the changing seasons. If you haven’t been to a big box store lately you may not have noticed that it is suddenly Christmas everywhere you look. Unfortunately, the real estate market does not flip seasons as easily as your local retailer and the indicators we look for are harder to spot. This fall has been a particularly quirky market. Some areas are hotter than average and setting records and some neighbourhoods feel like they are in a cool chill. We don’t know why this is happening making some of us think that the market will end early and has others thinking it will go to the last day of the year. We will keep on working and let you know how our seasonal transition fairs.

Last week in the city the freehold market saw a decline of 27% in new listings but a massive increase of 60% more sales than the past three weeks. This is not uncommon given that we had the federal election and Thanksgiving to contend with. Tight supply has been the ongoing story for most of the year. Homes trading at or above the list price is at a very respectable 65%, well within the range we have seen for a strong fall market.

The condo market held steady with a small 3% increase in new listings, but a 19% increase in sold condos and of those sold 52% sold at or over the list price. Next week we will have the statistics for the month of October to report. Let’s see how that unfolds.