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Hello 2023
The spotlight has been shining bright on the Real Estate Market over the last few years. I wanted to give a little overview of what we have been through as well as the current market conditions and what we might expect going forward.
The years 2020 – 2022 had the craziest Real Estate markets we have seen here in our little province of Nova Scotia. We all heard the stories of people who live in Ontario or out West and always thought there was no way that would ever happen here. HA! HA! Boy we were wrong!
There were many factors that came into play over the last few years. As we all know Covid was the first thing that had a major effect on our Real Estate decisions. I spoke to a lot of people who had to work from home and they quickly realized their current residence did not meet their needs. Many first-time home buyers were looking to get out of renting and even those who already owned homes found they needed more space to accommodate working from home or kids being home-schooled. Covid highlighted the aspects of homes that were not working for people in our new normal.
We moved into 2021 and that’s when the market really started to get competitive. People from out of province were moving here in droves (in fact, a record-breaking 28,000 people moved to Nova Scotia between 2021-2022). They had already experienced tight real estate markets, so these conditions were normal to them. However, for us, it was NOT normal and completely out of the ordinary. We started to see our affordable real estate skyrocket!
Today, we are grappling with the effects of rising interest rates aimed at curbing inflation and cooling real estate markets across the country. In the other major city centers, this has had a drastic effect on home values. Nova Scotia has seen a change as well, with the average price dropping 15.5% from the peak. However, the number of new listings dropped by 11% so we still have strong demand for what remains a limited supply. Yes, we are down 15% from the peak, but we are up 3% from this time last year. Once interest rates plateau and uncertainty regarding affordability subsides, we expect a strong market in 2023.
So, what is our new normal? Some properties still get multiple offers, although without the drastic bidding wars like in 2022. However, we remain in strong seller’s market with only 1.6 months of supply.
0-3 Months - Seller’s Market - Upwards Price Growth
3-6 Months - Balanced Market - Stable Prices
6+ Months - Buyer’s Market - Downward Price Pressure
For Sellers, this means you can still leverage the market to maximize your property value. The average purchase price of a single-family home in HRM in Jan 2020 was $342,670 and now the average purchase price is $507,534. That is a staggering increase of 48% over 3 years.
I will keep you updated on how things change over this year of 2023. If you want more information and have a indepth chat, let me know. I would love to hear from you =)
~ Real Estate & More With Kor!