Frank Steinhausen

The January real estate market in south Pickering kind of reflected the general mood of people around Durham Region. Let's stay home and wait out winter.

There were 7 sales in South Pickering with a median price of $274,000.

There can be no market trend statements here.

There are still 39 active listings from January and 2007. We will have to see if February brings people out to buy and sell.

North of the 401 in Pickering showed more activity than the South (it is a bigger district), but the activity was nothing to write home about.

Only 55 of the 211 active listings sold in January, a hair over one quarter, in all of north Pickering. The median price was $283,000.

The median price for all of 2007 was $290,000, and for December 2007 is was $284,750. With not much to compare it to, and mother nature hitting Durham Region hard so far this year, we will be waiting for cabin fever to hit to get things moving.

The weather didn't keep Ajax buyers indoors for January. Ajax reported a more active January than December 2007. Pickering had the reverse market (a more active December).

There were 286 new listings put on the market, adding to the 67 already there making 353 homes available for buyers. And 111 of them were snapped up with an average days on the market of 37 (which means some of those December listings sold). The average price was $298,752 which holds steady to the December average price of $298,908.

Although homes aren't running off the shelves, a steady January is a good sign that the market is still healthy for 2008. We will have to wait and see.

In general, I will tell my clients that the weather sometimes will affect the market, particularly in the winter when looking at houses means trudging through snow banks and slush. The weather seemed a little confused in January. Maybe the home buyers were too.

There were 6 sales in the Eagle Ridge area of Pickering Village. The detached 4 bedroom homes sold for a median price of $445,000.

Home sellers can sit back with their hot chocolate. This high demand area has great opportunities for buyers and sellers to move up this year.

Looking at the national papers or even some of the more local papers, you might be thinking that the real estate market is a mess. The US housing market is in the tank and the Alberta Market is booming. Wait, the market in the US is not so bad according to the National Association of Realtors; the Alberta market has been skidding to a stall.

You really need to wade through the quagmire to find the answers as to whether now is the time to put your home in Pickering Village on the market and what would that price be.

Here is the low-down about your neighbourhood to help you make good decisions:

For 2007, the average price of detached homes in Eagle Ridge, Pickering Village:

• 3 bedrooms: $378,004
• 4 bedrooms: $414,192
• 5 bedrooms: $608,333

Want to know how your real estate investment has done since you bought your home 4 years ago? Here is the trend for the prices of 3 and 4 bedrooms (there have not been enough 5 bedrooms sales to affect the price):

• 2003 - $360,078
• 2004 - $399,464 - up 9.9%
• 2005 - $382,451 - down 4.3%
• 2006 - $414,911 - up 7.8%
• 2007 - $403,883 - down 2.7%
  (Toronto Real Estate Board Statistics)

The art of trend-watching and pricing your home to sell requires knowledge about what is going on all around the real estate industry.