Now that the Pan Am Games are officially over, and the CNE has started, bad drivers are once again abusing the left lane, traffic in the west end is a disaster and minds are turning back to real estate. Another sure sign that Fall is just around the corner? Pent up housing demand is, once again, the number one topic of conversation.  Despite the extra week of Summer this year, an increase in activity leads us to believe that people are returning from vacation a little sooner than usual.

Case in point…the freehold sector. Listings have increased by 10% over the last two weeks and sales have increased by 11% but what is most interesting is the number of sales that have taken place at or above the list price. After sitting at around the 40% mark, last week that number shot up to almost 59%. Sold activity was the strongest in the entry level market ($400k-$700k) in the east core where the number of sales increased by 42%.

A similar picture of the overall real estate market exists within the condominium sector. Although the number of new listings decreased by 4.6% last week, sales increased by 3.6% to 200 units, with 21% of those sales happening at or above the list price (up from 19% two weeks ago).  Not surprisingly, there were fewer new listings in the central core’s entry level condo sector ($200k-$400K) yet it was that same sector that saw the biggest gain in sales.