December numbers are in

The EREB released their December figures today. For the most part things went much as expected prices continued to decline. Obviously was not a surprise sales were also down, but the degree to which was surprising... only 608 residential sales for the month, which is by far the lowest figure since 1995. For reference, the next lowest monthly sales totals since '01 were from January '01 and December '02, when the tallies were 835 and 837 respectively.

Here are the average sales prices:

Residential overall = $310,974
Since peak (July '07) = -12.3% (-$43,744)
Since last December = -5.7% (-$18,731)
Since six months ago = -8.9% (-$30,402)
Since last month = -2.4% (-$7,614)

Single Family Homes = $351,870
Since peak (May '07) = -17.4% (-$74,158)
Since last December = -7.9% (-$30,152)
Since six months ago = -7.7% (-$29,514)
Since last month = -3.0% (-$10,887)

Condos = $234,286
Since peak (July '07) = -13.8% (-$37,622)
Since last December = -7.5% (-$18,984)
Since six months ago = -10.7% (-$28,079)
Since last month = +1.2% (+$2,755)

Townhouses = $292,893
Since peak (Oct '07) = -20.4% (-$75,071)
Since last December = -4.6% (-$14,074)
Since six months ago = -6.4% (-$20,130)
Since last month = -7.3% (-$22,920)

Condo's actually saw a small increase since the prior month, but Townhouses took a big hit in December, dropping almost 23K in price as compared to November and are now back below the 300K mark, territory they haven't seen since January of '07. For what it's worth, SFH's and Condo's are also roughly the same prices they were in January of '07 as well to offer up some historical context.

It'll be very interesting how the coming months play out, with a surge of listings expected hoping to take advantage of the price advances that often come with the spring, and whether that will materialize after this extended period of unprecedented inventory levels we're in... not to mention recently slumping sales. In the coming days/weeks I'll be running some numbers and preparing some charts on just that though, so stay tuned.