Coldwell Banker Johnston May Market Update

Catchy title huh? Nothing snoozy about the stats for the month of May though.  The Edmonton Journal leads with "Through the roof" but we'll give you some objective analysis as well with some graphs that we (Sara) has put together for you.

To start with.  The market is more balanced today then yesterday or last year. Inventory is up significantly giving buyers more choices.  Prices are up all across the board and demand is at a record high level with more sales occurring year to date then all of 2005.

So where do things go from here?  By all accounts in previous posts I predicted a slow down in price growth and that is what I still foresee.  If inventory continues grow at this rate prices will reverse, even though the total number of sales are literally through the roof.  Buyers now have the opportunity to relax somewhat (this is fantastic news and from my perspective - more like a healthy market). 

Inventory vs sales suggest this market is fairly close to a balanced market and not a sellers market.

Average Price to Inventory Comparison &  Listing Inventory

This is probably my favorite representation of the market.  It is curious to note that prices still managed to rise even though inventory went up so dramatically.  Will next month show inventory has peaked or have the prices peaked?  Time will tell but demand is still very strong.  What this graph could also suggest is that things have returned to normal.  Especially if you consider previous inventory levels from previous years are fairly consistent with current inventory levels.

Total Residential sales

This graph has an interesting story as well.  Wow are sales strong! Last year sales for June were down significantly from May - maybe that was because there were no listings to sell.  2005, 2004 saw roughly consistent total sales from May to June.  If sales follow the patterns of 2004, 2005 - from what I've seen from early sales numbers and our own stats that is what I predict will happen - look for strong sales in June.

Listings to sale ratio

We don't always include this one but it shows how the listing to sales ratio made a dramatic turn from 76% in April to 59% in May, which by our estimation puts this market into balanced territory.

In the mean time we will see continued growth of listings.  Buyers should continue to see improved conditions with continued inventory increases.  June will be a  very brisk month for sales as well.  Since its almost midnight now I'm going to sign off, perhaps I'll have some more analysis tomorrow, or perhaps our readers will share their insights on the market.