Guelph December dwelling gross sales see 27.5 per cent drop year-over-year

The average price of residential sales in Guelph dropped from $874,673 to $732,139 in a year

The Guelph’s real estate market as of the end of 2022, well, “it’s a good ol’ fashioned standoff,” said Tyson Hinschberger, president of Guelph and District Realtors Association.

In comparison, December 2021 and 2022, home sales in Guelph have decreased by 27.5 per cent, from 110 homes in 2021 to 74 homes sold in 2022.

The interest rate environment is causing not only affordability challenges, but uncertainty in the market as well and both impact the decrease of home sales, said Hinschberger.

The average sale price of all residential sales in Guelph in 2021 was $874,673 and in 2022 was $732,139.

The average sale price of single detached homes in Guelph in 2021 was $1,029,005 and in 2022 was $818,793.

“So you’re not seeing people having the opportunity to work from home en masse, which changed people’s buying decisions as well. Location wise, budget wise, the things they require in a home, all of those things changed drastically in 2021,” said Hinschberger.

The decrease in home sales is happening throughout Canada and North America, he said.

“You’re seeing the markets that climb the fastest, have the most precipitous declines as well.”

Although provinces in Eastern Canada where there were fewer drastic increases in pricing, aren’t seeing huge decreases in sales, said Hinschberger.

Guelph has a tight supply of properties on the market, between 0.9 to 1.2 months of inventory. 

If no new properties come on the market, Guelph would run out of homes for sale, explained Hinschberger. 

Low inventory, historically, occurs in January, as low as a two week inventory, he said.

In August 2022, Guelph’s peak of inventory was a 1.8 months supply.

Given the way the housing market is trending in Guelph, it’s tough to say if it is a buyers or sellers market, said Hinschberger.

“It almost feels like you have sellers willing to sell at one number and buyers willing to buy at another number. And both are prepared to wait and see if the other one blinks.”