Mortgage 101 – Halifax and Ottawa Real Estate | January 2022 Part 1

In this episode of Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins and Todd Veinotte, as heard on CityNews 95.7, the guys talk about the real estate markets in Halifax and Ottawa. From population increases, purchasing in rural areas, to first-time home buyers, Clinton and Todd dive into all your burning questions.

Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins & Todd Veinotte: Halifax and Ottawa Real Estate | January 2022 Part 1

Don’t feel like watching the video? Check out the transcript below.

Transcript:

We’re on CityNews Halifax and Ottawa!

Todd Veinotte: [00:00:00:08] We’re happy to be on the air on CityNews Halifax and our nation’s capital CityNews Ottawa.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:05:05] I know this was our news when we did our little recap interview here just before the holidays. I think it was actually maybe Christmas Eve. We did our kind of a year end wrap up. We put a little teaser out there. And for our listeners, our loyal listeners here in Halifax, that’s something new was coming. And you know, we’re on in Ottawa as well. So you’re listening to us Saturday and Sunday.

Todd Veinotte: [00:00:30:03] That’s right. So some maritime hospitality from Halifax to Ottawa, right? What would you what would you tell, if you want it to be a true maritimer and you wanted Ottawa people to recognize or realize what maritime hospitality is about? What would that message be?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:46:18] I think probably people in Ottawa already know that, you know, maritimers are like the most friendly people. Like we hold the door for people, we probably answer your call.

Todd Veinotte: [00:00:55:14] I don’t. I don’t hold the door for anybody.

Halifax voted number one city

Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:57:17] I don’t know. I think we work really hard to. And you know, I think the one thing that’s really interesting, you know, about Halifax, we were rated the number one city by Maclean’s magazine. Can you believe that? You know, I really obviously believe about, you know, lots of great things are going on here and there’s a lot of, you know, positivity. And you know, it’s been a tough couple of years, no matter where you live across the world. But I think, you know, we have fared relatively well. And, you know, I think the population growth is really, you know, speaking to that.

Todd Veinotte: [00:01:33:08] And the housing market across the country, it’s the same story, particularly in large urban areas like Ottawa and Halifax, obviously, but it’s just red hot and it continues to be really hot, right?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:01:45:13] Yeah, definitely continues to be very, very hot. And you know, at some points during, we’ll call it the last, I’m trying to think about this, 22 months that we’ve been really living this COVID dream, I guess, here in Halifax, at one point, probably about every third client that we had were people relocating from Ontario. And, you know, for better or worse, we’ve had some, you know, price increases here in Halifax. But I think there’s a lot of good things going on, and I think we’re going to still see a lot of population growth.

Halifax’s population will continue to increase

You know, one thing that they’re projecting is the population in Halifax is going to grow by about 25 per cent over the next five years. So, you know, I’m pretty excited about the growth. You know, we’re here to help the people that live in Halifax and really across Atlantic Canada, you know, arrange mortgage financing.

You know, we have a lot of relocation and you know, there’s a lot of military people that live here in Halifax, you know, there’s a lot of people who work for the federal government. So, you know, if you live in Halifax or if you’re listening to us in Ottawa, yeah, you know, we’d love to transact with you.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:49:19] We’d love to educate you. And hopefully you’re really going to enjoy our show. And this is our season four of having, you know, a show on the air. Obviously we were, I was on the air and you’ve been on the air for years. But this is the fourth year that we’ve been doing this format of this Mortgage 101. And, you know, lots of great feedback, I think, over the years.

Education, education, education

And I think even last year, you know, we’ve just helped so many people and I think it’s about breaking down some of the barriers. And we’ve talked about financial literacy. We talked a lot about, you know, refinance first time homebuyers, you know, the Bank of Canada, lots of things that really impact Canadians.

And, you know, I’ll repeat it again: The biggest asset in a lot of households is the home. And, you know, we’re certainly going to talk a lot about those things all year long. So we encourage people to tune in.

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:40:06] And absolutely and a lot of people have located from parts like, places like Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, all over the country. You’ve seen this?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:48:18] Oh yeah.

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:48:28] To Halifax, right? So for people in the Ottawa region, paint that picture just let everybody know kind of what the experience has been like here in Halifax for that, because I think it’s interesting.

Halifax and Ottawa real estate prices

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:59:03] I think the one thing that kind of like rings true to me is kind of like what our average house prices are. I think at one time, you know, the average was probably very similar to what it was in Ottawa. I think Halifax and Ottawa have a lot of similarities.

And obviously, you know, house prices have increased, you know, across the nation, you know, in Halifax, you can still get a brand new construction property for $500,000. That exists.

Todd Veinotte: [00:04:25:01] I don’t think that exists in Ottawa.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:04:27:17] I’m not sure if it does anymore. I feel like they’ve had a lot more growth than we have. And, you know, a couple of years ago, where I have an average home price was about $325,000. But now I think we’re getting up on that $500,000 mark is kind of where that average home price is. But homeownership is still, you know, doable for a lot of Canadians.

You know, we talked about it that the majority of the transactions we’re doing either, you know, have a dual income or, you know, have a single borrower that has, you know, a six figure income. That’s typically the majority of the clients that we’re seeing. But, you know, we help people in all kinds of different situations, and I think that’s really unique about Nova Scotia and about Halifax.

Buying in rural Nova Scotia

You know, if you can’t afford to buy something here, there are many other areas of the province that you may be able to buy something that’s still kind of within your price range. And we’re seeing more and more borrowers buying kind of what we consider like the outskirts of the city or maybe a more rural areas of Nova Scotia.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:29:13] I think with the way that people are working now and a lot of, you know, work from home, there’s some companies that the employers are never going back to the office. And you know, I think at one point last year, we’re really excited kind of about, you know, things are getting back to normal. It was really busy.

We’re actually recording our show that you’re listening to right now from our office in downtown Halifax. And there was one point where, you know, the traffic was really getting busy and we’re slowly seeing more people like even in our office tower. And I think with the this last variant, I think the kind of that growth trajectory ahs changed a little bit.

And I think even when we’re thinking about things like the Bank of Canada and like increases, I think we’re everybody’s kind of doing a little bit of rethinking right now. Yeah, but we’re certainly still seeing a lot of population growth and we’re seeing a lot of people relocate here from across the country.

Is homeownership still obtainable?

Todd Veinotte: [00:06:22:29] Yeah, absolutely. But so the dream of homeownership for first-time home buyers, though, this is a story that that we’ve talked a lot about over the past year, that it’s now becoming basically, unobtainable for too many people. What are your thoughts or what do you what do you want to say concerning that?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:06:41:06] You know, I think that homeownership is unattainable for some people.

Todd Veinotte: [00:06:44:21] It is. Who otherwise wouldn’t have been? I think two years ago, even.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:06:49:23] I don’t know if the incomes have followed the increases that maybe the house prices have. And I think that’s kind of a symptom of inflation. So it’s not just home prices that have increased. Chicken breasts and steak, if you go to the grocery store, you know, they’ve increased for X. Home prices have not increased for X, thank goodness, but I think there’s some things that have definitely increased more than home prices. But I think that’s almost like on the forefront, especially for the first-time home buyer. Like, we understand how challenging it is and you really want to have a lot of confidence when you’re making an offer on a home, Todd, right?

First-time home buyers in this market

And we have had some first-time home buyers that, you know, we’re getting them a pre-approval and it’s kind of at the top of what their affordability is. But within that affordability, they may not be getting their dream home. And I think, you know what? That’s okay. You know, homeownership is maybe, not everyone can have it, but it is doable at some point for people, you know what I mean? Like, you might not be able to buy your brand new, new construction property that was architecturally designed and all the stuff. Maybe you need to buy a starter home? And yeah, starter homes are definitely more expensive, and maybe you don’t have to do some work to the starter home. But guess what? That’s what our parents did.

And I think if we’ve kind of lived in a little bit of this illusion that first time home buyers can buy, you know, their dream home, and I think a dream home was maybe more available pre-pandemic kind of for first-time home buyers.

But I think now they kind of have to reset their expectations, which, you know, getting into the housing market at all, I think, is sometimes the first step. And then kind of build up that equity and then, you know, how can you leverage that property to buy another one? Or how can you maybe sell that property to get into the home that you really want?

Next up: More Merry Debtmas and refinance

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:48:06] So over the next little while, what do you want to talk about? What can people expect over the next hour?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:08:53:27] We’re going to be talking about Mary Debtmas. You know, it’s our favourite time of the year here. Maybe not your very favourite time at home, but we’re certainly going to talk about Mary Debtmas. And you know, what does refinance look like and how do the mechanics work? So Mary Debtmas to you.

Todd Veinotte: [00:09:08:20] It sounds like a buzzkill.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:09:10:05] I don’t know. I think it’s going to be a great time.

Todd Veinotte: [00:09:13:07] Yeah, because I mean, obviously, people spend too much over Christmas. They get carried away, right?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:09:18:26] And I don’t know if it’s just Christmas, Todd, but I think that some people, you know, really have had a focus on health and wellness in January and New Year’s resolutions. I think the New Year’s resolution this year is around financial, health and wellness. How can we really talk about that Mary Debtmas and how can we find a solution?

Todd Veinotte: [00:09:38:16] All right. So we’re going to talk about that very issue and a few other things here in CityNews in Halifax and Ottawa. We will be back.

If you have any questions, get in touch with us at Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team! You can call us at (902) 482-2770 or contact us here.

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