The year is starting out strong here in the Georgian Triangle.Sales for January 2008 are up 17% over the same month a year ago and this is the part where I say, "Whew" since so far, my predictions are holding. Here are some quick MLS® statistics from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board for January. (The numbers in brackets are from January 2007.)Number of Properties Listed For Sale: 415 (396)Number of Properties Sold: 107 (91)Number of Expired Listings: 200 (196)Sale Prices:$100,000 - 200,000 38 (29)$200,000 - $300,000 34 (33)$300,000 - $500,000 18 (16)$500,000 - 999,999 6 (6)$1,000,000+ 2 (3) On top of this, Wiarton Willie claims spring is just around the corner heralding an early spring market with further interest rate decreases too. That news mad...
Let's face it, at this point in the year, predicting sales trends is like predicting the winner of a horse race. Nonetheless. with just three weeks having passed since we left the post, it's fun to see which areas are off to the fastest start.As a reminder, the Georgian Triangle area includes Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Town of the Blue Mountains, Meaford and Grey Highlands and, all MLS® data and/or statistics have been obtained only from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board.As of January 18th, there have been six condo units sold in the Georgian Triangle in 2008 which is exactly how many had sold at this point in 2007. The surprise though is in single family homes which are up about 40% with 42 homes sold on the Multiple Listings Service (MLS®) versus 30 at the same ti...
Although everyone predicted a "soft landing" and somewhat slower pace for 2007, the year ended with record sales numbers across the country including in our South Georgian Bay market. In addition to resale figures, there have been a large number of new home sales in our region and the trend would appear to be far from over. According to numbers recently supplied by local Town planners, there are applications in place for hundreds of developments representing close to 18,000 new units! It appears that about 70% of these are for condominiums and 30% for single family homes. That is an astounding number. Please note that all of the following data comes from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) of the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board which generally reflects resale values and statist...
With the snowfall and cold temperatures, Blue Mountain opened this week-end with four trails and two lifts open today. After such a miserable and late start to the season last year, everyone is rejoicing this year and looking forward to a strong season. For current conditions, check out the Blue Mountain website or take a look at the webcam for the latest. By the way, 5 x 7 passes are still available in a limited quantity for $219.00 plus GST.
The October MLS® statistics are in from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board and there were a few surprises. Typically, sales numbers drop off a little after the end of August however, this year, the number of sales climbed to 200 units for the month which is up from the 168 sales posted in September. Of the 200 sales last month, 164 of them were residential with the balance made up of sales of farms, vacant land and commercial properties.In the residential sector, 43% of the sales were in the $150,000 to $250,000 price band with another 21% in the $250,000 to $350,000 range. There were only two sales over the $750,000 mark in October compared to 15 in October 2006.Overall, the number of sales in October was up 20% over October 2006 and, the number of listings was up 18%. The tot...
One of my favourite places in Collingwood has to be Harbourlands Park. It is located at the end of the "spit" leading to the majestic Collingwood Terminals grain elevators near the foot of the main street. There are beautiful walkways and gardens including a memorial walk paying tribute to the many shipyard workers who worked in the Collingwood Shipyards which closed in 1986 after 100 years of operation in the community. A yacht club is home to local sailing ships that grace the waters and recently, the original Watts Skiff building was located to the area.Whenever I need a reminder of the fact that I live in one of the most beautiful towns in the country, this is where I go. On a sunny day, the kids are jumping off the pier to swim. At night, there is no better place to watch a t...
With the third quarter of 2007 now over, a review of the MLS® statistics from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board for the first nine months of 2007 are in and sales volumes continue to exceed 2006 levels marginally as expected. After a slower than normal start to the year from January to March, sales activity climbed steadily through the spring and summer with the number of unit sales now up about 9% over last year with a total dollar volume value up by about 15% overall. While the number of expired listings (properties that did not sell during their listing period) are up by about 7%, the total number of properties listed for sale so far this year is also up by about 6% over 2006 YTD. A key indicator is in the sales to listing ratio; that is the number of properties sold versus th...
Real estate hunting that is. As many of our Collingwood and area real estate buyer clients come from outside of the area, they often book a hotel for a night of two during their house hunting trips. Well, good news! Booking accommodation in South Georgian Bay just got easier. The innovative folks at mycollingwood.ca have just launched a new online reservation system for the South Georgian Bay area that makes booking as simple as clicking your mouse. In her article describing the new service, mycollingwood.ca partner Julie Card states that, "Stay by the Bay is available for your convenience any time night or day and represents a wide range of accommodation types including Resorts, Hotels, Motels, Chalets and Country Inns. The system has been designed to allow the user to easily comp...
If you are looking for a date or a partner in life, maybe you should move to Collingwood. O.K., I'll concede that most people looking for a community to relocate to don't consider marital statistics when they shop for real estate but none-the-less, this is kind of interesting stuff.According to an article in last Friday's Collingwood Connection newspaper, Collingwood is the singles capital of our region. The article reported on Census data found in the now released 2006 Stats Can Community Profiles but to be fair, the data doesn't yet cover some of the towns in our area. I suspect thought that their conclusion will still be correct.The profile for Collingwood reveals that it is the most heavily populated town in the Georgian Triangle with a population of 17,290 people; an increase of ...
It's Labour Day and next week, the kids head back to school. Within two weeks, the fall colours will start a magnificent show and the fairs will be upon us. But not today. It's a beautiful, sunny and warm day when everyone is out enjoying the last days of summer. One of the favourite past times of the local teens is jumping into Georgian Bay from the pier at Collingwood's Harbourlands Park and today, I was lucky enough to catch a few in action.Mr. Cannonball says to be sure and tell you that his name is Steve and he's "totally awesome, dude!"
The MLS® statistics from the Georgian Triangle Real Estate Board for the first eight months of 2007 are in and sales volumes continue to exceed 2006 levels as expected. After a slower than normal start to the year from January to March, sales activity climbed steadily through the spring and summer with the number of unit sales now up more than 13% over last year with the total dollar volume values up more than 17% overall. While the number of expired listings (properties that did not sell during their listing period) are up by about 10%, the total number of properties listed for sale so far this year is almost equal to 2006. A key indicator to watch is the sales to listing ratio; that is the number of properties sold versus the number listed. A ratio below 40% is considered a buyer's ma...
Today when you drive up First Street in Collingwood heading west toward the mountain, you'll quickly notice that the landscape sure has changed in the last six months. The old Don Cherry's has been replaced by the new Boston Pizza. The former Harding factory was sheared in half and now a Home Depot sits in its place. Remember Darsco Lighting and Sears? They've been replaced by the new Staples and behind that, the new big building is a seven screen Galaxy theatre. By the way, both are now open.Yes, times do change. In 1996, Collingwood had 15,600 permanent residents and 10 years later, that rose by 11% to about 17,300 people. Add in the number of part-time residents and the growth has been significant but nothing compared to what is "on the books." There are currently close to 6,...
Money Sense magazine ranked Collingwood as one of the best communities in which to live in Canada. Those of us here already know it (although I think sometimes we forget) but now, everyone else knows it too. 123 communities with populations over 10,000 people were ranked on statistics such as weather, real estate prices, income levels, crime rates and lifestyle factors and, Collingwood ranked 11th! Actually... the ten places listed above us are all cities so, that makes us the Number 1 town in Canada, right? Here's the Top 15 list:1: Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario2: Halifax, Nova Scotia3: Québec City, Quebec4: Guelph, Ontario5: Fredericton, New Brunswick6: Kingston, Ontario7: Moncton, New Brunswick8: London, Ontario9: Victoria, British Columbia10: Gander, Newfoundland11: Collingwood, Onta...
