Mortgage 101 – The Halifax competitive real estate market update | August 2022 Part 4

In this episode of Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins and Todd Veinotte, as heard on CityNews 95.7 and CityNews 101.1, the guys look back over the last two years and give an update on the Halifax competitive real estate market. Find out what the price of a starter home is now, where the prime real estate in Halifax is, if we’re still in a seller’s market, and if sellers missed the opportunity to maximize profit, plus so much more!

Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins & Todd Veinotte: Halifax’s competitive real estate market update

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

Transcript:

Halifax’s competitive real estate market update

Todd Veinotte: [00:00:00:03] Well, maybe people thought it was a dream when they were trying to buy a house a number of months ago, or sell a house, or held off and missed that hot market if you’re a seller.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:08:20] Well, you know what? I think some of the dreams came true for a lot of people over the last couple of years, Todd. And I think some of the dreams were crushed probably over the last several months, and I think some first time homebuyers were really disenchanted.

I will use that word by affordability, the real estate market. What really went on here in Halifax was very, very competitive. There were a lot of listings that the realtors were getting 20 plus offers on. And, you know, sometimes first time homebuyers just couldn’t compete. And, you know, I think there was a little bit of buyer fatigue there as well.

I think some first time homebuyers were making offers on properties, they were just throwing things at the wall and just seeing if they could get anything. I think that’s changed a little bit now, and I think it’s changed for the better, for those trying to get into the real estate market.

Todd Veinotte: [00:01:04:18] Yeah, well, the market was overheated. Let’s face it.

We’re still in a seller’s market

Clinton Wilkins: [00:01:07:11] It was definitely overheated. And it’s still a seller’s market, Todd. And that’s what we’re hearing from a lot of realtors here in Halifax. Sellers are really still in control, but they’re not getting the level of offers that they were getting before. And I think real estate is sitting on the market a little bit longer than it was. And we’re starting to see some properties that are starting to sell for at ask or maybe a little bit under the asking price.

There was quite an aggressive strategy going on here in our market in Halifax for quite some time that the properties were being listed way, way below the market value and the realtors were putting the properties on what they called a “program” where they would list it, maybe wait 3 to 5 days and then start reviewing offers at a set time. I think that’s not happening quite as much.

I think properties are getting listed at the market value, which I think is positive. We’re certainly seeing accepted offers happening. Typically the summer is a little bit of a slower time. I’m really interested to see what’s going to happen in September.

Typically, when the kids go back to school and I use the kids, like, I’m gonna quote this, you know, university little kids that are in elementary school, high school. Once we get back into a fall season, typically the middle of September, things are pretty busy for us into kind of the end of November.

Double digit growth, not a bubble

Todd Veinotte: [00:02:31:00] Right. Yeah. So the market, I guess you often said you never thought that we were in a bubble. You’ve never used that term.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:40:05] We’ve never had double digit growth here in Halifax. And obviously, we know over the last couple of years it was a double digit growth type situation. Typically we have a very stable market, like 1%, 2%, 3% price growth. And I think we’re going to get back to that, Todd. And, you know, I’m not sad about it. I think having a more stable market is a lot easier. It’s easier to manage.

I think it’s a little bit easier for people who are buying and selling. And, you know, you mentioned that maybe people that were thinking about selling that didn’t they kind of missed the mark. I don’t know if that’s accurate. I think maybe they missed the mark in the sense of you’re getting 20 offers, but it only takes one. Right?

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:23:01] Yeah. I guess though, if you were selling, if you’re a seller, you want to maximize your profit, obviously.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:28:05] Yeah. I think if you’re selling and exiting the market, yes.

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:31:21] Yeah. That you missed it. Sure, it balances out if you’re purchasing.

Did sellers miss their opportunity to maximize profit?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:35:22] Yeah. I think if you’re selling and buying again, I think we’re not in a bad situation. I think it’s going to be several years before we kind of get it more into a balanced market because we need a lot more supply here in Halifax and across Nova Scotia, in all types of real estate. I think to bring the market back to balance.

Todd Veinotte: [00:03:55:25] Right. The come from away effect, that’s stabilised though?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:59:02] I think it’s certainly less. You know specifically, I think our provincial government scared a lot of people who were not living in Nova Scotia. So there is an increase in the deed transfer tax. So you have to pay more now if you buy a home and you don’t become a resident of Nova Scotia. So I think that has an impact.

And I think the work from home culture has changed a little bit. Some employers basically gave kind of an open ended, you know, we’re not going back to the office. Some employers basically closed their brick-and-mortar offices and everybody’s working at home permanently. But we’re seeing more and more employers recalling their employees back into the office.

And, you know, there were certainly a time where there was a lot of people from Ontario moving east because obviously the cost of real estate, we had a very kind of like safe environment here in Nova Scotia, especially around COVID. And, you know, buying a single-family home here was a lot more realistic, then many other areas across the country. Still today our average house price is somewhere around $530,000, which is a fraction of what it is in Ontario and B.C. and that is attractive to a lot of people.

But I think the work situation is really what obviously is an impact. Maybe you’re never going back to the office, but if there is a chance that you do need to go back into the office, if you’re buying a home in a completely different area of the country, that could really put someone in a bad financial position if you need to sell that home quickly and get back to work.

What’s the price point for a starter home now?

Todd Veinotte: [00:05:36:20] You mentioned the starter home price point. What is that right now in Halifax? Because the average price is around half a million, you said?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:44:25] Yeah, the average house is around half a million. There are homes available at $300,000. They do exist.

Todd Veinotte: [00:05:51:10] Right. But what kind of condition are they?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:53:24] Exactly. I think the condition probably needs work and that’s okay. It’s probably in a liveable condition, but it’s not going to be brand new construction. It’s not going to be renovated. You’re going to buy something maybe in a bedroom community on the outskirts. And I think, you know, that’s okay.

But when you’re buying something kind of in that price point and if you’re buying kind of outside the core, I think you need to think about, there’s other things like transportation and amenities. You know, these obviously need to be taken into account because if you now have to drive half an hour, or an hour, to come and work downtown.

Todd Veinotte: [00:06:32:19] It comes out of your budget.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:06:33:16] That has a cost. It’s not just a cost of fuel, but it’s maintenance. It’s, you know, it’s having a vehicle. So I think there’s a balance between living in the core and having the lifestyle and living on the outskirts. You know, there’s time and there’s money spent.

And that’s why I think going back to what the wants are versus the needs, and I’ll just touch on it one more time. You can’t change the location of your home, without selling it, right.? So I think that’s one thing to really, really think about. And I think it’s really kind of making that list and checking it twice as funny as that might sound, on what your priorities are.

Where is the prime real estate in Halifax now?

Todd Veinotte: [00:07:11:20] And anything within 10, 15 minutes of the peninsula here, that’s prime location right? North End, Clayton Park.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:18:25] It certainly is prime.

Todd Veinotte: [00:07:20:10] Spryfield. All those areas.

Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:21:13] I would say the hottest areas in Halifax are between the ‘Circ’, which is the highway on the dark side, or in Dartmouth, and the “Bi-High”. So those that’s typically the hottest areas. And I think we saw some of the most, you know, increase in price growth in downtown Dartmouth, North End Dartmouth, Spryfield, Fairview. Like that’s where kind of we’ve seen the biggest increases.

You know, several years ago it was the North End and central Halifax that we really saw the biggest increases. But I would say that is plateaued a little bit more now. And I think, you know, as affordability continues to be a challenge, I think further and further out of the core really has seen the kind of the biggest growth and has had the most demand.

Get in touch with Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team today!

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:13:04] So if people are interested in all the stuff, they want to know more about what you do, how do they get ahold of you?

Clinton Wilkins: [00:08:17:15] I think the first step is to check us out online, Todd. At TeamClinton.ca/Radio. There’s lots of great information on our website. I think we have over 600 blog posts now, lots of contact information. You can listen to our show on our website and links to all our social accounts as well. So certainly check us out online and I really thank everybody for tuning in.

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:40:07] Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for doing this. Always great, Clinton

Clinton Wilkins: [00:08:42:27] Thanks for having me, Todd.

Todd Veinotte: [00:08:43:17] All right. That is Mortgage 101: Your Guide to Homeownership with Clinton Wilkins and myself. Todd Veinotte. Thanks so much for tuning in and listening, folks. Have a great day.

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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