02/16/2023
Have a quick read of this Huddle article. The national headlines for the real estate market are not indicative of our East coast current market. The large cities drive the national stats but you need to be aware of the local stats.
Prices have decreased slightly locally but sales have slowed due to lack of inventory. There are still lots of buyers out there looking.
Atlantic Canada Sees Home Price Resilience in the Face of National Declines, But Sales Slow
FEBRUARY
15
2023
Atlantic Canada Sees Home Price Resilience in the Face of National Declines, But Sales Slow
HUDDLE STAFF FREDERICTON, HALIFAX, MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK, NEWS, NOVA SCOTIA, SAINT JOHN 0
Reading Time: 2 minutes
SAINT JOHN — Canadian home sales are at a 14-year low, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly home buying and selling activity last month came in 37.1 percent below January of last year.
For most markets, the drop in sales went hand in hand with a drop in price. The actual national average sale price fell 18.3 percent year-over-year in January.
But Atlantic Canada bucked that trend.
Despite sales activity in all the Atlantic provinces being down between 27 and 31 percent year-over-year, prices did not see steep declines. In fact, Atlantic Canadian home prices held on to much of the gains made in the run up to the February 2022 peak.
New Brunswick’s average house price fell only 3.6 percent year over year, from $261,294 to $252,154. Nova Scotia’s average price fell from $392,138 in January of 2022 to $380,553 in January of 2023, a three percent drop.
In the short term, some Atlantic Canadian markets saw gains. Home prices in Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick actually rose month-over-month from December to January.
The benchmark price of a home was up from $480,000 in December 2022 to $490,700 in January 2023 in the Halifax-Dartmouth region. That trend lifted the entire province of Nova Scotia, which saw elevated prices in January compared to the previous month, going from $368,600 to $374,600. Benchmark price was also up in Saint John, from $261,300 in December to $268,400 in January.
In the province of New Brunswick as a whole, month-over-month benchmark prices remained basically flat at $265,000.
In the Greater Moncton area, benchmark prices were down from $303,600 in December to $302,100 in January.
CREA says the Aggregate Composite MLS Home Price Index is now 15 percent below the February 2022 peak. But individual markets in Ontario and parts of BC are further off the peak than the average, while Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, and St. John’s are “barely off their peaks at all”.
January national home sales were down three percent month-over-month, marking an inauspicious start for the year – especially following the highs of early 2022.
“The big question on everyone’s minds after last year was what will housing markets do in 2023?” said Jill Oudil, CREA chair. “We may have to wait another month or two to see what buyers are planning.”
New listings are also at low levels as both buyers and sellers hold their breath waiting to see where the market will ultimately land.
