More people from outside the Kootenays bought into the real estate market during the pandemic than ever before. That’s the latest information from the Kootenay Association of Realtors.
“There’s no denying the fact that among other regions in the province, the Kootenay region provides great value for your home investment,” said KAR President Chuck Bennett. “I have noticed that with remote working opportunities arising after lockdown, more people were interested in locations that would’ve previously been out of their consideration. As per a recent report on buyer locations, it was observed that during the pandemic, our region saw growth among buyers coming from outside the region.”
While the majority of buyers during the past year of a very hot Kootenay real estate market were from the region, there was a considerable jump in out of region purchasers as well.
“Since October 2020 until May 2021, we recorded the percentage share of out-of-district buyers of Kootenay properties to be in the range of 35-45 per cent. Whereas a year before, the same was in the range of 25-35 per cent. This means that compared to a year before, we saw an increase of about 10 per cent in the number of buyers that came from out-of-district areas each month during the pandemic. Considering we sell 300 listings on an average each month, a shift of 10 per cent means that there were about 30 more buyers from other regions who bought Kootenay properties each month, since the hot market started last year,” said Bennett.
The majority of the out of region buyers are from either Alberta or the Lower Mainland.
Since Oct 2020, about 250 buyers who bought Kootenay properties were from the Lower Mainland. As compared to the same months a year before, there were only 102 buyers who came from the Lower Mainland. Similarly for the same period, the number of buyers from Alberta increased to 440 from 266 in the previous year.
“KAR will continue to monitor where the buyers are coming from, and it will be interesting to see if the current trend continues in the coming months. For now, the majority of buyers are still from within the Kootenay region,” Bennett said.
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.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
