Well, that depends on what you read and who you talk to.  According to CREA’s (Canadian Real Estate Association) stats for August, home prices have only increased 4% in the last year in the Kingston area. On the other hand,

if you look at the year to date statistics provided by our local board, Kingston’s market is up 8% from last year, with average home prices increasing from $307,541 to $332,287 in the last year (Again, much is attributed to new builds and more higher end home sales).

How do we compare to other markets in Ontario?

CREA tells us that Barrie is up 13.4%, Guelph is up 19.5%, Kitchener-Waterloo is up 10%, London and St. Thomas is up 18.3%, and Peterborough is up 13.7% year over year.

In fact, every single Ontario market tracked by CREA is showing an increase in overall sales price for the year.  And yet, interestingly, the average for all of Ontario combined is only showing a year over year increase of 0.1%

Confused yet?

The statistics also tell differing stories depending on what part of Kingston you live in. In some parts of Kingston’s west end prices have been flat year over year, while in others they’re up by as much as 9.5%. The same is true for mid-town, downtown, and the east end.

Talk to most buyers today and they’ll tell you they feel the market is hot. In the last few weeks alone our team has been involved in several multiple offer situations, with one bringing in over 7 different bids.

There is no doubt that the number of multiple offers seen in Kingston has sky rocketed from 2016 to 2017.  But although we’ve seen a market increase year over year, buyers have generally tended to stick fairly close to the asking price in a large number of cases. In fact, it’s not unusual for multiple offer situations to have winning bids of just over asking price – sometimes with at least one condition attached (of course, it often depends on which condition).  There are definitely more offers without conditions this year versus last year as well.  However, this seems a far cry from the madness experienced at the heights of Toronto and Vancouver’s markets.

Regardless of whether or not Kingston’s market is up somewhere between 4% – 8%, this year has definitely qualified as a unique one. The most telling data set of all may reveal itself in the actual number of listings we’re seeing.  The total number of listings is down 16% in Kingston year over year, and if you compare the numbers from 2017 to 2015 the total number of listings is down a whopping 36%. Also of note is the total number of Expired listings (Expired listings are homes that were at one time listed for sale, that didn’t sell). Expired listings are down 32% year over year and an incredible 51% over 2 years.

What’s it all mean Basil?

Our experience has taught us a few things about this year:

An overpriced home is still sitting in this market.  It may be hot out there, but if you’re priced too high you’ll miss out on the party and suffer the same stigma overpriced homes have always suffered…”what’s wrong with it?”.

Staged homes, shot with professional photography, and expertly marketed are selling for more, and more quickly. Just because the market for sellers is “good” right now it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to get complacent. Putting effort into preparing your home so that it shows the best that it can, and ensuring it can be found in all the right places, will almost certainly help your bottom line.

A lack of listings means that the good ones sell quickly. If you’re looking for something specific be sure to check for new listings everyday.

There are still some deals to be had. You may avoid multiple offers and higher prices if you’re patient, diligent, and willing to dig around a bit.

No one knows what’s going to happen next, but we can help sift through all the information and guide you through the buying and selling process.