David Potter Halifax, Dartmouth and Area

• As a buyer or seller, your knowledge of current market activity will have a direct impact on the decisions that determine the value you receive for your investment.

• And further, as a seller, your understanding of current market conditions as they relate to your property will guide you in important decisions. These decisions will impact how long your property will take to sell and can help reduce any inconvenience you experience during the sale.

Part of being “Good with Numbers” is possessing a mixture of curiosity about the benefits of statistics and a large supply of skepticism about what a particular number (or numbers) actually mean.

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Condominium sales represent a particular and interesting segment of the real estate market because trends are often more visible than within other housing types. This, in large part is because of:

1. the significant number of differences that often exist between examples of traditional property styles, even within the same neighbourhood – a fact that most buyers will readily accept, and

2. the number of similarities that individual condo units frequently share with other condos. These include age, location - transportation/distance to work/school/play, and especially, features such as unit size and layout, and original kitchen, bath & flooring finish.

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The 2010 condo sales could be viewed as having strengthened noticeably in HRM as the year progressed as suggested by the following table:

All Condo sales HRM – 2010

                               Avg List Price        Avg Sell Price       Avg Market Time (Days)

Jan 1^st to Dec. 31          $238,493             $231,350*                       140

July 1^st to Dec. 31          $244,448             $235,378                        128

Oct. 1^st to Dec. 31          $260,448             $249,427                        134

While these numbers suggest the condo market improved as the year progressed, I was curious about where that strength lay... was it across all condo sales or in more specific area(s)?

Let's take a closer look at narrower condo market segments...

To begin I looked at the market segment that included the average sale price. This turns out to be the selling price range of $220-250,000 for the year which had an average sale price of $232,558 which is a very close match to the yearly average sale price noted above. Here comes the important data:

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Condo Sales - Sale Price $220,000-250,000 HRM – 2010

(percentages are share of condo market for the period)

                                               Avg List Price       Avg Sell Price       Avg Market Time

Jan 1^st to Dec 31 (14%)                $238,377           $232,558*                     117

Jul 1^st to Dec 31 (17.5%)              $237,837             $232,584                     104

Oct. 1^st to Dec 31 (19.5%)             $236,902            $231,332                      79

As you can see, sellers of condos in this price range were not the beneficiaries of increasing sale prices.

On the plus side, this data does show a dramatic reduction in the time to market a property - almost two months less in the last quarter when compared to the overall condo market. Usually the shorter market time would signal a stronger market and rising prices, but this was not the case in this market segment in 2010.

In fact, the only condo segment that showed real price strength as the year progressed was the $375,000+ segment. Representing only 9% of the total condo sales and, including units that sold for up to $1.5 million, this segment activity actually distorts the activity associated with all other condo sales.

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 Condo Sales - Sale Price $375,000 (and over) HRM – 2010

(percentages are share of condo market for the period)

                                          Avg List Price      Avg Sell Price     Avg Market Time

Jan 1^st to Dec 31 (9%)           $532,340            $512,043                    230

Jul 1^st to Dec 31 (7%)            $610,590            $576,555                    327

Oct. 1^st to Dec 31 (10%)         $628,818           $597,273                    185

The reduction in the market time in this sub-market is clearly welcome by these condo sellers and Realtors... but even as an average, that's still a very long time to be looking for a buyer.

When someone asks me “How's the Market?”, I try to offer a response that relates the information on recent market activity to their home.

If you were to base your decision to buy or sell on statistics that relate to the larger market you could be very disappointed, frustrated, or experience outcomes that hurt you financially. You should never be reluctant to ask how market statistics relate to your specific property needs and, you should always expect to get a clear answer.

Uncertainty is an indication of a lack of information, make sure you have information as good as the info I provide my clients.

For more statistical gems and to learn more about how numbers can work for you, contact me directly ... . And stayed tuned for more analysis of HRM's real estate sales and inventory.

Copyright 2011 – David L. Potter
Sutton Group Professional Realty
Halifax, NS. CA.