Last week’s market activity reads like a good news/bad news story. It’s kind of like Toronto traffic. Thanks to the Pan Am Games there is very little road construction, but the bad news is there’s one less lane to drive in. For those of us who have a short commute there’s always the bike but if a quick get-a-way to the cottage is needed we suggest you make your escape extra early.

It’s easy to see the freehold sector easing into the Summer market. Listings remained unchanged over the previous week, running at 308 new listings in the central, east and west core but sales have trailed off by 56.3% over the same period. The biggest decline comes from the higher end central core where sales of homes over $1.5M were cut in half from the previous week (to 17 units). There is some good news however. Homes selling at or above the list price increased by 3% last week, to 56.3%. We believe that buyers are still very active in the market place but are taking a bit more time to make their decision.

In the condo sector listings have increased 8.9% since the week prior but have remained consistent over the last month at (767 listings in the downtown core). Sales are also down by a marginal 4.9% which only represents about 10 sales over the week. It is worth reporting that the key indicator of the condo market health has to be the percentage of suites selling at or above the list price. Last week that percentage was at a very encouraging 24.5% level.