Sales in December finished strong and reared its head above the 10-year average for 3 months in a row.  There were some fluctuations along the way month-to-month in 2019 but the general trend is now obvious.  The buyers are more satisfied with the pricing of today's market.  There is no sign that the sales are about to struggle in Jan-Feb, 2020 like it did in Jan-Feb, 2019.  Weak Jan-Feb sales are consistently followed by a weak Nov-Dec sales from the previous year.  As such, you can anticipate that the sales will remain at 10-year-average or above during the next 2 months.

The big question to be answered in January is whether Canada's interest rate will drop a quarter percentage.  Should this occur, it will have a significant impact on sales.

Months of Inventory will decline in December month-over-month as it inches closer to sellers' market.  The lower MOI is mostly driven by popular condo sales in REBGV which is now showcasing a SAL ratio of 32%.  We have seen lower MOIs in December in 4 other years: 2009, 2015, 2016 and 2017.  All 4 of those years were entrenched in a very strong sellers' market.  If the MOI drops below 4 in January or February, any hope of further decline in prices in the new year will be completely dashed.

MOI under 4 = Seller's Market

MOI 4-7 months = Balanced Market

MOI over 7 = Buyer's Market

Total Inventory took an unexpected fall in 2019 and took rather a large drop again in December.  The low new listings played a significant role in this year's inventory drop.  We can anticipate the TI at the end of January, 2020 to be around 9,000-10,000.