As buyers search for their perfect home, some are looking to northern Ontario to see if they can scoop up a property at an affordable price. It’s no wonder many are setting their sights on Sudbury, which has the largest population of any city in northern Ontario and continues to develop in exciting ways.
While it’s located almost four hours north of Toronto, Sudbury could be a real estate market to watch for those willing to travel.
Here are a few things to know about the Sudbury housing market:
Livability in Sudbury
Sudbury is referred to as the “nickel city” based on the region’s longtime history with the mining industry. However, it has since expanded its other industries such as retail, health, education and more, helping people with diverse employment find job opportunities here. Sudbury is also considered an important education hub for post-secondary students.
This northern city is making important strides to attract young homebuyers to the area. Developing green spaces, building cultural centres and other sustainability initiatives will continue to make Sudbury more appealing to homebuyers over the next three to five years. For active individuals, residents enjoy hundreds of lakes and scenic wilderness trails.
Homebuyers – especially first-time buyers – who find themselves priced out of the Greater Toronto Area are expanding their search parameters in search of affordability. As a result, they may turn their attention to markets like Sudbury, which provides many the opportunity to secure a spacious property at the right price.
Sudbury Before COVID-19
If we look back to before the coronavirus outbreak, reports indicated that the Sudbury housing market was steady. Popular neighbourhoods such as South End and New Sudbury continued to see traction.
Prior to the pandemic, RE/MAX expected average sale prices in Sudbury to increase by two per cent in 2020. The average house price in Sudbury was $289,500 (Jan-Oct 2019), a bargain compared to markets in southern Ontario.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported Sudbury’s average home selling price in March 2020 was a record $319,860, up 21.7 per cent year-over-year. Meanwhile, new listings were down 4.1 per cent year-over-year. This echoes a similar narrative of low housing supply reported in many of Canada’s key housing markets.
According to CREA’s market report, supply levels have been on a steady decline since early 2015 – conditions that have accelerated their decline starting in 2018. March 2020 had 2.7 months of inventory, down from four months at this same time last year and well below the long-term March average of 5.5 months.
Sudbury Market Now
Unemployment rates are likely to be a factor for those considering buying Sudbury real estate. The unemployment rate in this city was 8.4% in May 2020, with job losses occurring mostly in the information and culture services, and in the accommodation and food service industries.
Homebuyers who are still in the market will enjoy the advantage of Sudbury’s affordability along with the current low interest rate. The Bank of Canada slashed the benchmark rate to 0.25 per cent in early March. While, job security may be uncertain for some Sudbury remains a relatively affordable place to live.
Sudbury is growing, and increasing livability could draw more people into this market, now and in the future.
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.
