Halifax has become a seller’s market, real-estate wise, after being a balanced market a year ago, according to a report released this week.
The report, which is available online, was produced by real estate company Zoocasa.
“I think it’s a great thing. I think that that really shows that things are happening in Halifax,” Brehannah Hopgood, a real estate agent at Bryant Realty Atlantic, said on Friday.
“People are buying, so that can’t be a bad thing.”
She said Halifax was a buyer’s market when she first started in the industry about five years ago.
There are about seven to 10 per cent fewer homes on the market compared to last year, Hopgood said.
The average price of a home dropped from $298,668 to $293,638 between July 2017 and July 2018, according to the Canadian Real estate Association’s national price map.
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Donna Doiron, a former real estate agent, said she listed her two-storey home in Dartmouth’s Montebello neighbourhood with an agent in July. Within five days, Doiron had multiple offers on it and it was sold within days.
“It does seem, at least in the neighbourhood that we lived in, that things are starting to change,” she said.
“It’s absolutely a seller’s dream.”
Before listing, Doiron and her husband bought a condo unit. She said the unit was getting a lot of attention at the time, and she felt that they might not have secured it without putting in an offer on the day they did.
Doiron’s advice to sellers is to keep an eye on the market, work with an agent to understand all of the things involved in process, and use all of the resources available, such as sales data available online.
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Hopgood said buyers from outside of the province are wowed by how far their dollar can go in Halifax, and the lack of traffic compared to Toronto or Vancouver.
Doiron says for sellers, it’s important to present a home as as well as possible to impress buyers
As for buyers, especially in a competitive market, preparation is key.
“Make sure that you have all your finances in order, you’ve talked to your lawyer, you’re working with an agent, so you’re not rushing and you lose an opportunity,” Hopgood said.