Where did January go? A fun start to the new year, a short trip to New York, and a couple of snow days and all of a sudden it was February! I’m going to try to keep track of statistics for Sooke at the end of each month and post them here so you can follow along. Along with the numbers, I’ll give you my opinion of what the vibe is like in the market and what the other REALTORS® are saying. Overall, I think 2012 will be a good year. There seems to be renewed confidence in the global economy, interest rates are still extremely low, and sellers are being realistic with prices. So, let’s take a look at what January 2012 looked like compared to January 2011.
January 2011:
- New listings: 64
- Single Family Detached Sales: 10
- Total sales, all property types: 15
- Lowest price: a manufactured home at $37,000
- Highest price: $690,000
- Average price, single family detached: $432,160
- Median price, single family detached: $382,450
- Active listings, all property types: 332
January 2012:
- New listings: 67
- Single family detached sales: 9
- Total sales, all property types: 16
- Lowest price: a manufactured home (my sale) at $50,000
- Highest price: $499,900 (a new home in Sun River)
- Average price, single family detached: $333,311
- Median price, single family detached: $326,000
- Active listings, all property types: 352
While it might appear that prices have gone off a cliff year to year, this isn’t the case. With a relatively small sample size, average and median prices will fluctuate wildly from month-to-month based on what actually sell. That $690,000 sale last January definitely skewed the average up, and there were a few more higher-priced homes that also sold. I think activity is definitely up in Sooke. In talking to other agents, the sentiment is that this will be a more ‘normal’ year after last year being quite slow. I’m getting far more inquiries from people interested in moving here or investing in a property. Before I even advertised my upcoming first-time buyer seminars, I had people filling in the registration form.
These statistics are merely numbers – that’s it. They don’t necessarily indicate what your house would sell for or what you should be paying. Overall I think prices have come down from last year, but seem to be stabilizing. If you’re interested in selling this year, contact me for a detailed analysis of your property. If you’d like to know what’s coming up for sale, I can get you all the listings that match your criteria.