August real estate sales numbers are similar to July’s. Basically, this August’s numbers beat last year’s August numbers, but are slightly weaker than this July’s, but that can be due to seasonality.
Less new listings and recent increased sales are reducing inventory but not enough to bring down the inventory significantly. There were 3.5% less new listing and 15.7% higher sales than last August. As a result, the inventory is 5.9% lower than this July; however, compared to last August it is still 13.3% higher.
The sales-to-active listings ratios are hovering around the same numbers as last month. For August it was 12% for detached homes, 18.4% for townhomes and 21.2% for apartments. Typically, a reading between 12% and 20% is considered balanced. The higher the percentage, the hotter the market. These ratios correlate well with the price activities. Detached home prices fell 0.7% last month, while condos and attached homes increased in prices 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.
So, it does seem the more affordable condo and attached home markets have stabilized. September is also the start of the government’s First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. This is where the government will help you purchase your first home by providing some down payment for part of the equity in your home. If you think this will juice the market, think again. This program limits the mortgage size to 4 times your family income. However, without the program, you usually get a little bit more than 5 times your family income. So, if you didn’t have enough income to qualify then, you will not have enough income to qualify now. This program will only make sense for someone who qualified but thought the monthly payments were too high. By using some money from the program, you would be able to reduce the monthly payments. Also the maximum allowable family income is $120,000. A very small percentage of people will find this helpful.
