After a weak start to 2019, home sales in the Battlefords saw strong results in May. (file photo/LethbridgeNewsNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

FOR SALE

Battlefords’ housing market softens heading into summer

Jul 5, 2019 | 10:14 AM

After posting the strongest numbers in almost two years in May, the Battlefords’ housing market softened somewhat as summer approached.

Thirty-one homes sold in the Battlefords in June, down from 39 the month prior, according to data from RE/MAX of the Battlefords.

Co-owner and branch manager Wally Lorenz said a drop in sales as July and August come around is quite typical as buyers direct their interest elsewhere.

“I think if we can hold on through the summer here and come back into September, I think there can be a bit of an upswing in the market,” he said.

Average home prices have fallen dramatically, he said, as older properties move while upper-end properties see little activity on the market.

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He said buyers are shopping hard and many offers are well off the asking price.

“People see that they have an opportunity to take their time. It is not a pressured market right now,” Lorenz said. “There are more sellers than buyers so it takes a little longer to sell a piece of property.”

Total dollar value for sales in June amounted to just over $6 million. Year to date, 167 sales total $33.128 million.

Further contributing to the softening, he said, is a slow regional economy. A continued sluggish oil and gas sector, a dry spring that forced agricultural producers to hunker down and people waiting to see what the central bank does to interest rates, he said, are not helping the housing market.

“With the combination of some of that and an election coming up in the fall, I think everybody is just kind of standing aside a little bit to see where things are going,” he said.

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr