Like many of her clients, realtor Jenny Celly and her family moved from southern Ontario to southeast New Brunswick to find a more affordable home.
The slower pace and quality of Maritime life was very appealing.
“There’s less traffic. People, because they’re not as stressed out, they are friendlier, in my opinion, so that attracts a lot of people,” said Celly.
Moneysense.ca and Zoocasa, a consumer real estate search platform, have ranked Moncton as the top place in Canada to buy real estate for the third straight year.
Forty-five neighbourhoods and municipalities were ranked using factors such as the average price of a home, price growth over time and neighbourhood characteristics.
According to the rankings, the Greater Moncton area is highest in value and best buying conditions and has a seen a growth of 69 per cent over the past three years.
Celly said the region is still seeing buyers from Ontario and British Columbia purchasing homes sight unseen using Zoom or FaceTime – something that was very popular during the pandemic.
“I put myself in their shoes. So I’m saying, ‘OK, it smells kind of funny,’ because you are being their eyes and they will put in an offer after seeing the home via video. Most of the buyers are seeing their home for the first time on closing day,” said Celly.
One of realtor Tracy Gunter’s homes in north end Moncton recently sold in less than two weeks.
Realtor Tracy Gunter is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)
Gunter said it’s a seller’s market here, but there isn’t a lot of inventory.
“We don’t have a lot to sell. So, our buyers are coming in, they want to spend their money, but we don’t have the homes for them to buy. There is a house shortage,” said Gunter.
Gunter said what is selling are semi-detached homes and properties under $400,000 to people from outside the province and the country.
The average price of a home in the Greater Moncton area last year was $328,383.
“Things are slowing down a little bit, but people are still coming,” said Gunter. “Right now, it’s just finding homes for the people that need them.”
Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said the city’s appeal is its lifestyle and residents.
“We have kind, compassionate, collaborative people that want to work together that are engaged. They want to be a part of it all. There’s a real feeling of positive energy in our community right now,” said Arnold. “There’s really amazing people in our community.”
Realtor Jenny Celly is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)
Celly said the area is attracting many families, retirees, and investors.
The main reason: the prices.
“We’re looking at bigger markets, bigger cities where prices are two to three times more than what you find in Moncton,” said Celly. “A lot of people who are looking at the Maritimes are also looking at the quality of life.”
Saint John was ranked second for best places to buy real estate, Fredericton fourth and Halifax/Dartmouth was sixth.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Realtor Tracy Gunter is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)
Realtor Jenny Celly is pictured. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)
