(File photo/The Canadian Press)

By Martin Martinson

The State of Real Estate

Mixed signals in local housing market

Jan 11, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The region surrounding the Battlefords saw strong sales to close out 2019, with 10 taking place through December alone to cap a strong calendar year. There were only three sales in December 2018.

Meanwhile, six sales took place within the city/town limits, marking one fewer than Dec. 2018.

While the sample sizes may be small, they reflect the bigger picture. For the year, 2019 saw both listings and sales down marginally within the community, but up in the surrounding region.

Wally Lorenz, the office manager of RE/MAX of the Battlefords said while the market may have dipped a little bit, the change is due in large part to the overall economy, mixed with continued fallout from mortgage rules.

The Mortgage Stress Test, which was implemented in January of 2018, is a financial bar that Canadians looking to take out a mortgage must pass before being approved for one. The implementation of the stress test has helped rule out many of the low end buyers and first-time home owners who were coming in at a lesser value.

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Those factors help contribute to what has become a buyer’s market. Those looking to buy a home have plenty of options to choose from, despite the fact that less property overall is coming onto the market than even a couple of years ago.

“It used to be that if you had a property listed and you got an offer in at $5,000 or $10,000 under the list, you would be kind of in the game of negotiating,” Lorenz said. “Now, what we used to call ‘low ball offers,’ that were down $30,000 or $40,000 under the list – those have become the norm. You really get challenged from the get-go when people are looking around because they have lots of opportunities and lots of options.”

For 2019 there were 163 homes sold in the city/town, which was down three per cent. However, in the region total sales were up to 161 from 139 last year. Meanwhile the value of property has dipped as well, with Lorenz estimating the loss of “something in the neighborhood of about $20,000 on an average property.”

But Lorenz said there is reason for some optimism through at least the early going in 2020. He noted that January to this point, has seen things pick up a bit, despite being a pretty quiet month traditionally.

He had advice for those looking to sell.

“It is just about being realistic with where the market is,” Lorenz said. “We can’t go back a year or two and use those as comparables to where the market is today and try to value the house and put it onto the market at those numbers.”

He said anything that was priced right would sell in a shorter period of time. Anything that is sitting at the top of the market, or a little bit above sales from the last year or two, would ” just sit there; the interest isn’t there. So if you are a true seller, be prepared to price where the market is today.”

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1