Well here we are again: yet another year has passed and the Real Estate Market continues to give headline writers and news broadcasters plenty to work with. But in contrast to previous years where the theme was largely up and up and how much more up will it go, 2022 provided the opportunity to shift gears to down and down and how far down will it go. 

Unfortunately, it's easy to get caught up in the hysteria and sensationalism of it all; remember after all this commentary is created by people whose primary job is to grab your attention, and they are very, very good at it. But just because you hear something over and over does it make it true?

Rather than drawing conclusions solely from these 10 second sound bites, perhaps it would be a good idea to take a deeper look at the actual 2022 market results now that they're available and see what really happened.

Given the significant market correction that occurred in early April, it's interesting to consider the 2022 market in 2 distinct parts because the results might be surprising. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board's MLS Data for East Gwillimbury, the still very hot January, February, and March produced average monthly sales of 64 units while the rest of the year averaged only 35 per month. In the end there were 511 transactions recorded, down 42.7% from the previous year. 

But volume of activity is only part of the story. Are EG homeowners more concerned with how many houses are selling in the area or what the value of their home is?

Despite the drop in volume, the average price in 2022 rose to $1.422M, up a whopping 11.6% from 2021's $1.274M.

Obviously the frenzy-fuelled values early in the year strongly impacted this result. But removing Q1 from the equation the average sale price for the last 9 months, after the market correction, was $1.32M, still up by 3.6%. 

Keep in mind that for most people, residential real estate is not a short term consideration. Therefore taking a longer term look at the numbers, EG's property values continue to show strong growth averaging about 15% per year since 2018, when the average sale price was just under $806K. Even without 2022 Q1, property value growth in EG averaged well over 12% over the same time period. 

And remember back in the so called overheated market of early 2017 when buyers were chastised for paying outrageous prices and told they were going to lose money? Even compared to the 2022's downturned market (Q2-Q4) those early 2017 buyers were up over 38% based on average sale prices. 

Beyond the math, what does this truly mean for East Gwillimbury homeowners? Why do property values continue to grow at such a steady rate?

It's a growing community with a lot to offer its residents. The Town itself is largely debt free which not only helps keep property taxes relatively low, but also allows the Town to continually improve its cultural, recreational, and lifestyle-enhancing facilities and programs. There are great schools for the kids and continuously developing commercial and employment possibilities. 

Also, EG's close proximity to several large urban markets and major provincial highways provides even more opportunities for residents to easily work, shop, eat, and have fun all within a relatively short commute.

Quality of life means different things to different people depending on their individual circumstances. But what isn't different is that life evolves and major events and milestones happen all the time. And since East Gwillimbury has so much going for it, these changing housing needs lead to a certain amount of strength and demand for EG housing.