May 28, 2009
The first long weekend of spring has come and gone and we’re finding an increasing number of buyers venturing into the Parry Sound area in search of cottage properties. This is good news to people like myself who were unsure a mere year ago of how the recession would affect the local real estate market.
Overall sales are still down slightly from last year (12.5 percent, according to Parry Sound Real Estate Board MLS stats) but most of this number is attributable to dismal January and February sales volumes.
I’m hoping for an improvement in the weather, which has given us few warm days, instead bringing lots of rain and cool weather (similar to 2008). While lakes have not warmed sufficiently for water sports like swimming, bug numbers (black fly and mosquito) have been mercifully tolerable, despite the weather.
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May 18, 2009
Kudos to Stockey Centre manager, Krista Youngs for assembling an impressive cast of performers for 2009.
After recently enjoying an Arlo Guthrie performance at the concert hall, I picked up a brochure for the rest of the year from the box office, and was blown away by the quality of performers who’ll grace the Stockey’s stage this year. Tom Cochrane in June, Bruce Cockburn in November and comedian Pauly Shore in September are just a sample of the high-quality talent coming to Parry Sound this year.
Although originally designed as the permanent home of the Festival of the Sound, the Hall was taken over by the Town early last year and since then, has hosted a broad variety of artists…musical and otherwise. Hopefully, the Stockey will continue to attract quality acts in the future and broaden the scope of the Hall beyond classical music.
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May 4, 2009
Numbers published late last week by the Parry Sound Real Estate Board confirm that the 2009 real estate market is closely following what happened in 2008.
Although the total number of sales number is down 19% (attributable to a slow first two months of 2009) the March-April time period showed almost identical volume to the corresponding time period the previous year.
Lower interest rates and softer prices for both residential and waterfront real estate appears to have mitigated some of the negative affect of the recession, and at least in the Parry Sound area, has helped stabilize the market.
Demand for most types of real estate has strengthened this spring, but buyers are cognizant of market conditions so if you’re thinking of selling, you can’t be aggressive with pricing. Or, as I told a client recently, this is not the time to take profits in the market, especially if you purchased in the past 2 to 5 years.
This is not a time to float “trial balloons” or “test the market”, folks. It is a buyers market, afterall.
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