Now that May is here, the sun is finally shining, and it is beginning to look as if we will see some more activity in the market for the coming months.  April started off quite slow, and actually ended as the second least amount of sales for April in the past 10 years, but I can tell you from my experience and observations that the first half of the month was extremely slow, and the second half was starting to look much more normal! To further prove this, for May 2019 after 5 of 22 working days, we have had 369 sales, which is quite close to May 2018's 384 sales in the same amount of days.

Overall, April 2019 saw a total of 1,383 sales, which was 13% more than the slow month of March 2019, and almost 20% fewer sales than April 2018. While the sales have been down, we have continued to grow the active inventory to 7,870 homes available for sale at the end of April, which is an increase of almost 40% compared to April 2018. Together, the slower sales and more active listings would equate that buyers are holding out for the prices to continue to slide. Add this to the fact that the buying power is not what it used to be, no thanks to the stress test, and it seems inevitable that prices will continue to slide for the near future.

However, I would also speculate that the increase in the market that I have seen over the past couple of weeks may lead to a very slight increase in price for the remainder of the Spring market, with the prices continuing to decline again in the mid to late summer months.

The market slowing down as it is has, is overall a good thing for the stability of the market as I have been preaching the "normalization" of our market for the last several months.  We are still on our way to normal, but seem to be getting closer every month. A normal market is a stable market, and the best place for your investment is a stable market. 

If you are thinking of buying or selling, it is a great time for some situations, and may not be the most ideal time for others. If you are considering upgrading your property, now could be the most lucrative time to do so for the next couple of years as the attached market has held it's value slightly more than the detached market, but if you are considering purchasing your first home, that may get easier as we get later into the year as the likely declining prices in the summer will create a slightly lower entry point to buy into.

No matter what your situation is currently, I will always give you the advice that I feel is right for your situation, and at the end of the day I do not believe in pressuring my clients to make a decision, instead, I want to give you all the information for your unique situation and help you make a decision yourself.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to get in touch with any questions!