December home sales down over previous year. In line with long-term averages

Although real estate statistics for December 2016’s residential home sales in Sault Ste. Marie show a decline in every category over the same month in the previous year, many of the numbers are still in line with long-term averages.

The following statistics were reported by the Sault Ste. Marie Real Estate Board to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

While the amount of units sold in December 2016  were roughly in line with the five and 10-year averages for that month, those 60 units reported represented a decrease of 20 per cent over the previous year.

Year-to-date home sales stood at 1,253 units — 3.7 per cent below 2015 levels.

To compare, December residential home sales in Sudbury were reported up by 14.8 per cent, while North Bay experienced no change in number of units sold.

Although the Sault statistics were lower than the 2015 stat for home sales, that total stood above all other years dating back to 2008.

The December 2016 average home sale price in the Sault was $164,543 — down 4.8 per cent from the previous year.

The year-to-date average home sale price statistic was more encouraging, up two per cent from the previous year at $170,155.

In Sudbury, the average house price for December was $252,323, while the in North bay the average was $218,250 for the same month.

A reported $9.9 million in total value of home sales for December 2016 represented a 23.8 per cent decrease from the same month in 2015, yet was still the third-highest December on record.

A 17 per cent decrease in new residential listings was reported over December 2015, with 93 total units listed in December of 2016.

At the end of December, the board counted 603 active listing in the city.