What a difference a year makes!!! Is was about this time last year that we were going into the global meltdown and all of us were looking at ways to cut back, hold off and hope for the best. The last 3 months of 2008 saw the volumes drop dramatically from the norm and the first 3 months of 2009 were no better. What this ended up doing is creating a pent up demand for housing, as there were lots of buyers wanting to pull the trigger, but were afraid of what might happen in the economy. Prices came down some but the big motivating factor was the drop in interest rates that sparked a lot of first time home buyers to enter the market. Recent stats show the List to Sell ratio almost doubling from last year. The number of listings in the Nanaimo area this past month has dropped by over 200 homes compared to 2008. Buyers are starting to find it more like the years past where they couldn’t find the homes they were looking for because they were selling too quickly. While we don’t see a lot of upward pressure on prices, we are only about 5 % off of the highs for the average selling price of a home in Nanaimo back in April 2008. Here at Remax and certainly here in the Thompson Godfrey Group, we have experienced a very strong summer and early fall and hope to see it carry through into the winter months. Inventory levels will continue to drop until early spring, which will make the remaining inventory more attractive to those buyers wanting to purchase sooner rather than later. We are thankful that we live in a very desirable place here on Vancouver Island and while we haven’t been immune to the problems affecting so many people in North America, we look like we came out of this recession very quickly and mostly unscathed. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have regarding your Real Estate needs with either Dave Brian or Mark, as we are here to help, and enjoying every minute of it!