Agent Will

There is a key statistic that many of us pay attention to and one that any good realtor should be making you aware of.  That number is the Sales/Listings ratio.

In a really hot month in the past this number often approached or exceeded 100%.  This meant that the number of properties sold were almost equal to the number of properties which came on the market for the same period.  This did not mean that every home which came on the market sold as there was a supply preceding the new listings, naturally.

What we are seeing at this time is a Sales/Listings ratio of about 43%.  Not bad.  Really.  That is about average for the early weeks of the year.  What this really means is that supply is increasing and that there are fewer sales for each new listing.

But here is the kicker.  While 43% of properties may be selling compared to new listings (and as a new listing you should be pricing your home to sell not sit) when compared to all listings available we get a much different number.  In fact, a drastically different number.  For the first week of February only 6.7% of available properties sold and that number is dropping as available properties increase.

6.7%

I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Now even at the best of times when Sales/New Listings were around 100% that would have only translated to about a 50% Sale/Total Listings.  It would take a lot of demand to burn off the built up supply in the slower months, and, let’s face it, some properties are just not priced to sell.  All the same, when you are out there thinking it’s a hot market (and it has been) a new listing at the best of times has a 50% chance of selling and less than 10% in the slower periods.

The other key statistic to look at is Days on Market.  This is saying that those which sold did so in X Days.  Currently that number is about 38 Days.  So you have a 50% chance of selling in 38 Days.  Apply that to the ratio and we see that in actual fact you have a 3.4% chance of selling in 38 days.  Yikes.

I really do need to clarify one point here.  These numbers are general.  They apply to almost all of Greater Vancouver and may not reflect your actual situation.  For that you’ll need a realtor who understands statistics and knows how to pull and interpret the data.  One building/neighbourhood is not equal to the next.  Location, location, location and all that.
So what do you do?  How can you, as a seller, improve your odds?

Realtors like to use Comparable Market Analysis.  In my mind that is just wrong.  Selling is not about comparables and being friendly.  It is about competition.  That is why I do a Competitive Market Analysis.  I do compare your home to others but then use that data to competively price your home in such a way that it will attract the most qualified buyers and, on showing, place you first in their minds.  There is no prize for second place.  And when only 1 out of every 33 homes on the market sells in under 40 days, well, you do not want to be second.  We do not know what the future holds.

If you would like to know more send me a message or better yet, give me a call at 604-787-6977.