It is summer, and - looking back to spring real estate market - the hopes for more listings did not materialize, fierce competition between buyers resulted in bidding wars and many house and condo sales well over the asking price.

I was told by one of agents met at an open house that many of our colleagues set a listing price by $200,000 below the market value. They justify that saying that prospective buyers expect the listings to sell $200,000 or more over the asking price, so they will not consider looking at homes close to the upper limit of their budget. Seems like a vicious circle to me. One longs for the times when professionalism meant conducting a thorough research and setting a listing price that was within a reasonable range from the market value.

Last week of June saw a 46% decline in new freehold listings and a 17% decline in sales. That, of course, meant even more competition for a limited supply, and 70% of listings were sold at or above list price.

New condo listings declined as well, by 25.5%, with 19% fewer sales, and 35.5% sales at or above asking price.