December 2021 is now in the books!  I don’t know about everyone else but in my family, there were 2 trips cancelled over the holidays and Christmas dinner went from 9 down to 4.  Omicron really did a number on our dinner, and I know on many others dinners, not to mention vacation plans.

Looking at December Stats, sales Year over Year were up 24.2% but just 2.5% when looking at seasonal growth from November 2021 to December 2021.  This is really a tremendous increase in average sales noting that December 2020 had a large increase over December 2019.  It would appear that January, now that Ontario is in a Level 2 lockdown, with Restaurants closed and many people being laid up with COVID (Omicron) the streets are quieter again and people are not looking at real estate right at this time.  Plus, it seems that many people are going somewhere south (if they can) to get away.  The stress that the pandemic has had on families and individuals is immeasurable and its effects will show itself in the years to come.

December transactions were down 15.7% and I see that trend continuing.  All signs are that this latest variant will be short lived and if you have your vaccinations that the effect is less severe, but will it run through Canada by February or maybe March or we could say April?

 Once again, be well and be safe.