Multiple offers, houses selling for well above their asking price and properties getting snapped up within a few weeks of the For Sale sign being posted are becoming more common in a market that is favouring sellers, say Windsor real estate experts.
“We have a hot market, not red hot, but robust,” said Frank Binder, founder and broker of record of Royal LePage Binder Real Estate.
“Houses are being sold in under two months, which we haven’t seen for a while,” said Binder, a 40-year veteran of the real estate business.
Windsor and Oshawa were the only Canadian cities deemed seller’s markets last month, according to a report released Monday by the Conference Board of Canada.
“Falling listings and ongoing sales gains (in resale housing) put the Oshawa and Windsor market into seller’s territory,” the report said.
“It’s a question of demand slightly outstripping supply,” said Robin Wiebe, conference board analyst. “Windsor’s economy is not doing too badly and interest rates are low.”
At Manor Windsor Realty, sales representative Rhys Trenhaile cited several recent examples of houses selling for well above their asking price. “The overriding theme in Windsor is there’s not enough good properties to sell to prospective buyers.”
A 2.5 storey, three-bedroom townhouse on Monmouth Road, for example, was listed at $189,900 and sold June 1 for $211,000, said Trenhaile. As well, a four-bedroom, 2.5-storey home on Chilver Road listed for $99,900 elicited nine offers and sold for $143,000 on April 30, he added.
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“We are seeing bidding wars in two different sectors — on estate sales and on beautiful homes in suburbia,” said Trenhaile.
“We’ve adjusted our strategy this year in making sure buyers are 100 per cent ready to buy the same day because if they’re not, they could lose out on the homes are best for them.”
Binder offered a more cautious outlook. “We will have a clearer sense of where the market is headed by the beginning of July,” he said.
While Wiebe said he expects sales to continue to rise for the rest of the year, Windsor’s foray into seller’s territory is likely a short-term trend.
“I wouldn’t rush out to buy a house,” he said. “I’d call it more of a statistical blip right now. It seems closer to a good, strong balanced market.”
Binder agreed. “I think we’re at the upper end of a balanced market. We’re in a hot market right now only because the long, cold winter slowed things down at the start of the year. So, there’s a lot of pent-up demand.”
Binder said supply will rise as more and more sellers put their homes on the market. “What we’re trying to ascertain is whether it’s a blip or a trend.”
Regardless, the average transaction price has been steadily rising from just under $180,000 in May, 2013, to $183,466 last month, said Binder. “That’s already a five-per-cent jump.”
The conference board predicts prices will rise by up to three per cent by the end of the year, added Wiebe.
Expect multiple offers in popular residential areas, such as South Windsor as well as pockets of Riverside, Tecumseh-St. Clair Beach, LaSalle, Lakeshore, Kingsville and Amherstburg, said Binder.
Most sales fall into the categories of ranch-style homes in the $175,000 price range and bi-level homes, selling for about $212,000, he said.
Of the 159 properties listed last month with Binder’s agency, “68 had offers or were sold. Of those, seven were over the list price, but nothing outrageous.”
The houses sold were on the market for about 37 days, he added.
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