As the calendar flips for the last time this year and we are less than a month shy of Christmas, it feels like we are all gearing up for the holiday festivities. Agents are busy sending out cards and calendars to clients and preparing to take some well needed time off. The offices are slowing down, listings are dropping off, but buyers haven’t completely disappeared. Real estate economists’ view of the market’s performance in 2019 is that it was a solid year. The year played out in dramatic fashion. We had a sluggish start in the beginning of the year but by spring and into the summer months, fortunes reversed and the market overall has been on something of a hot streak. And to brighten the picture even further, the housing outlook for 2020 is resoundingly positive!

The freehold sector in all neighbourhoods of the city saw a 4% drop in new listings last week. As December approaches we also saw a drop in sales by 4% for all freehold properties but the bidding wars are still happening with 54 per cent selling over the asking price.

Like the freehold market, the resale condominium sector is following the same trends. New listings are down 8% week-over-week, but sales were only down 5%. Condos that sold above their advertised price represented 46% of the total for the week and this is a number that has remained fairly consistent throughout the fall market.