Queen Victoria's birthday is behind us now and that means the activity is gearing up for the final push for the spring market before summer sets in and trekking to the cottage begins. It seems the spring weather never happened. We went from miserable rainy days to this weeks above average temperatures. The number of new listings this week should be on the rise but let's see next week how many of those will receive multiple offers. Every year it's the same story. Homeowners often prefer to wait for the flowers and trees to blossom before they list their homes for sale. Buyers will have more choice now!

Last week in the freehold market sellers were still holding back obviously waiting for the long weekend to come and go. New listings were down 23% from the previous week. We are reading in the news that people don't want to sell their existing properties because they worry it will be difficult to find their next house or condo, so they want to buy first before selling and that has been a challenge with fewer listings this year. The number of sold properties also dropped by 9% last week but a strong 70% sold at or above the list price.

The number of new condo listings was down while demand and sales had no change from the week before. There were 40% fewer listings week over week creating increased competition which resulted in 58% of available condos selling over the asking price. While the number of new listings has remained stable in the east and west, the noticeable drop is in the central core, proving once again that demand still exists for central condos.