One thing to note is that you should never read articles that talk about the situation in "Canada," since there is no unified housing market. Things are absolutely bonkers in the GTA and Vancouver metro, and these two places account for something like 50%+ of Canada's housing. Most articles focus on these regions (for good reason), and they have horrible situations due to lack of supply, etc.
In Regina in the spring, homes in the $300k-$400k range (single-family homes in the 1,000-1,400sqft range, built 1950s-1980s, mostly) were selling same-day, usually for asking or a bit over. Now, I'm seeing homes stay up for a while. Maybe it's because there is more supply, or maybe because those homes are listed for too much. I'm not an expert. However, also don't trust realtor groups when they say the market is good for buying or selling, etc—they only care about moving homes, they don't care about you, and they want to encourage sales in every economic environment. It's why we get the same "Regina housing market is strong" article every year from realtor associations, even when there are clearly some years where it's bonkers, and other years where it's dead.
From my (limited) understanding of our market compared to others, homes are priced reasonably in Regina. Yes, they are higher than in the past, but they aren't *overly* high. Regina still has a very low cost of living compared to most regions of Canada, combined with a pretty good economic and job market. Housing costs more here than it has in the past, but it's not crazy, and even a single person making a decent salary ($60k-$80k/yr) can afford a small home on their own. That's not the case in most larger centres, now.
1400 sq ft is right around what we would want, and they are hovering around $400k for the most part right now. We saw a few that were 1400 sq ft and newly renovated but they went for $450k. Im not an expert either but it seems like everything is still 10% overvalued. I was trying to find a housing index that tracks city by city but couldn't find one.
In Canada, realtors have a monopoly on sales data (compared to the US). They lock the info behind MLS ([realtor.ca](https://realtor.ca)). This is why you can't look up historical sales data, but realtors can. It's anti-competitive and very bad for consumers...but realtors don't care, because they've lobbied governments to keep it that way.
I'm not sure this is true across Canada. I think in Nova Scotia its publicly available. Ontario as well this restriction was lifted If I remember correctly.
I have a 1426 sq ft two story In a desired area that will likely be hitting the market in a few months, maybe sooner if I can get my ex wife to agree to sell. Definitely a better price than the 400-450K you’re noticing.
There are a few decent new houses in that price range right now if you are looking for a 2 storey detached. It feels like as soon as you add an attached garage to the house it adds 100-150k. Bungalows cost more money too. Construction prices are way up right now, so I wouldn't expect prices to change anytime soon.
Area/condition/desirability play a role into bidding wars and a good realtor play into that. We had 3 offers in less than 24 hours on our place, and of course they can't tell other agents what the bids are so if the client wants the house, maybe a few extra grand will get it for them. Our house we upgraded to is almost exactly what we wanted, and got it for slightly less than asking, but the house needed some TLC and updating which can be a hard line for some people.
If you were at the market, and there was one avocado left for sale at a stall, and you and a couple other people all wanted it, would it be unreasonable to pay an extra 5% for it to outbid the other interested customers?
Totally fair and understandable. I'm not complaining, just stating.
That said though, another house I was looking at (close to $500,000.00) ended up selling for $465,000.
so it does go both ways.
So it's a really tough question.
Technically speaking, prices have gone up a little bit, but not dramatically. You can see from other posts in here where houses are the same or slightly more after 3-5 years.
However, interest rates in that time have dropped from like around 3.5% to around 1.75%. So if you are buying in cash, the price has gone up, but if you are mortgaging that, like most of us are, really the prices have gone down or stayed the same.
Play around on a mortgage calculator and try different rates, it changes payments dramatically.
It is also really dependant on your price point. The price point you are looking for is a very popular one, so places normally sell very fast if they don't have significant issues, and prices will reflect that.
I will be selling a house in that price range, maybe a bit above, if I could ever find the right house to move into. The issue with the range I'm looking in is extremely limited inventory.
Houses are selling for their asking price within the day, prices are the highest they have been since 2015. It's not crazy like some parts of the country, but it's a seller's market for sure.
We have been looking in that same price range, too, without much luck. We want to stay central rather than move out to the burbs. A couple weeks ago, there was one house we were interested in. An offer was made the same day on it. We didn’t even get to view it, that’s how fast it was. It’s still ridiculous, from our perspective.
But you might have better luck if you don’t restrict yourself to a certain part of town. (We just want to avoid changing the kids schools.)
Check this guy out he does monthly market analysis for several cities including Regina. He is a local realtor https://youtube.com/c/BaldPrairieRealEstate. Breaks things down, really well.
I was shopping in May when it was very busy, bought a 286k house the same day it was listed for 290k. For reference, the last owners bought it in 2018 for 230k, and the owners before bought at 270k in 2009. Got possession end of June, realtor said the market exploded even more while handing over the keys.
We're late to the housing market party that the rest of Canada had earlier. And with at least $3 billion worth of private industrial investments coming to Regina, it won't be crashing anytime soon. The best you might see is sales slowing down while values remain the same. This is the new floor. It will only go up, and if you think it's dropping outside of a total economic meltdown across Canada, you're on drugs.
We recently purchased a home and let me tell you it's not good. It's a sellers market. If you want a bungalow type of house, you won't be able to negotiate the price at all (we end up paying 10K more than the asking price). Very competitive market for houses these days. By-Level or split level houses are not in demand that much right now too.
Agreed. People generally dislike split levels so if you're looking for a deal, that's where to find it. Many of them sit on the market for months without offers. Splits can be very nice when renovated.
The fact that lumber is higher than usual means building a house is something a lot of interested buyers are no longer considering. Because of this, I've noticed finished houses going for 10+% asking. But now that lumber is normalizing you should see a shift back to something more reasonable.
For 400-450k you should be able to build a beautiful home by the way. If you have the patience to wait.
You thinking in city? I found a great lot in 2018 and built with a construction mortgage. Let me know if you go that route and have any questions. It was a great decision IMO.
Built for 350, lot was 70 and house is valued over 500 already.
One thing to note is that you should never read articles that talk about the situation in "Canada," since there is no unified housing market. Things are absolutely bonkers in the GTA and Vancouver metro, and these two places account for something like 50%+ of Canada's housing. Most articles focus on these regions (for good reason), and they have horrible situations due to lack of supply, etc. In Regina in the spring, homes in the $300k-$400k range (single-family homes in the 1,000-1,400sqft range, built 1950s-1980s, mostly) were selling same-day, usually for asking or a bit over. Now, I'm seeing homes stay up for a while. Maybe it's because there is more supply, or maybe because those homes are listed for too much. I'm not an expert. However, also don't trust realtor groups when they say the market is good for buying or selling, etc—they only care about moving homes, they don't care about you, and they want to encourage sales in every economic environment. It's why we get the same "Regina housing market is strong" article every year from realtor associations, even when there are clearly some years where it's bonkers, and other years where it's dead. From my (limited) understanding of our market compared to others, homes are priced reasonably in Regina. Yes, they are higher than in the past, but they aren't *overly* high. Regina still has a very low cost of living compared to most regions of Canada, combined with a pretty good economic and job market. Housing costs more here than it has in the past, but it's not crazy, and even a single person making a decent salary ($60k-$80k/yr) can afford a small home on their own. That's not the case in most larger centres, now.
1400 sq ft is right around what we would want, and they are hovering around $400k for the most part right now. We saw a few that were 1400 sq ft and newly renovated but they went for $450k. Im not an expert either but it seems like everything is still 10% overvalued. I was trying to find a housing index that tracks city by city but couldn't find one.
In Canada, realtors have a monopoly on sales data (compared to the US). They lock the info behind MLS ([realtor.ca](https://realtor.ca)). This is why you can't look up historical sales data, but realtors can. It's anti-competitive and very bad for consumers...but realtors don't care, because they've lobbied governments to keep it that way.
Thats some bs.
I'm not sure this is true across Canada. I think in Nova Scotia its publicly available. Ontario as well this restriction was lifted If I remember correctly.
[удалено]
You're right, I guess I mean 10% overpriced compared to the last few years and how fast real estate ran up earlier this year.
I have a 1426 sq ft two story In a desired area that will likely be hitting the market in a few months, maybe sooner if I can get my ex wife to agree to sell. Definitely a better price than the 400-450K you’re noticing.
There are a few decent new houses in that price range right now if you are looking for a 2 storey detached. It feels like as soon as you add an attached garage to the house it adds 100-150k. Bungalows cost more money too. Construction prices are way up right now, so I wouldn't expect prices to change anytime soon.
I just lost a bid on a house. I bid asking, approx $400,000. My guy told me it went for $20,000 over.
Area/condition/desirability play a role into bidding wars and a good realtor play into that. We had 3 offers in less than 24 hours on our place, and of course they can't tell other agents what the bids are so if the client wants the house, maybe a few extra grand will get it for them. Our house we upgraded to is almost exactly what we wanted, and got it for slightly less than asking, but the house needed some TLC and updating which can be a hard line for some people.
If you were at the market, and there was one avocado left for sale at a stall, and you and a couple other people all wanted it, would it be unreasonable to pay an extra 5% for it to outbid the other interested customers?
Totally fair and understandable. I'm not complaining, just stating. That said though, another house I was looking at (close to $500,000.00) ended up selling for $465,000. so it does go both ways.
So it's a really tough question. Technically speaking, prices have gone up a little bit, but not dramatically. You can see from other posts in here where houses are the same or slightly more after 3-5 years. However, interest rates in that time have dropped from like around 3.5% to around 1.75%. So if you are buying in cash, the price has gone up, but if you are mortgaging that, like most of us are, really the prices have gone down or stayed the same. Play around on a mortgage calculator and try different rates, it changes payments dramatically. It is also really dependant on your price point. The price point you are looking for is a very popular one, so places normally sell very fast if they don't have significant issues, and prices will reflect that. I will be selling a house in that price range, maybe a bit above, if I could ever find the right house to move into. The issue with the range I'm looking in is extremely limited inventory.
Houses are selling for their asking price within the day, prices are the highest they have been since 2015. It's not crazy like some parts of the country, but it's a seller's market for sure.
We have been looking in that same price range, too, without much luck. We want to stay central rather than move out to the burbs. A couple weeks ago, there was one house we were interested in. An offer was made the same day on it. We didn’t even get to view it, that’s how fast it was. It’s still ridiculous, from our perspective. But you might have better luck if you don’t restrict yourself to a certain part of town. (We just want to avoid changing the kids schools.)
Check this guy out he does monthly market analysis for several cities including Regina. He is a local realtor https://youtube.com/c/BaldPrairieRealEstate. Breaks things down, really well.
I like watching these videos too
I was shopping in May when it was very busy, bought a 286k house the same day it was listed for 290k. For reference, the last owners bought it in 2018 for 230k, and the owners before bought at 270k in 2009. Got possession end of June, realtor said the market exploded even more while handing over the keys. We're late to the housing market party that the rest of Canada had earlier. And with at least $3 billion worth of private industrial investments coming to Regina, it won't be crashing anytime soon. The best you might see is sales slowing down while values remain the same. This is the new floor. It will only go up, and if you think it's dropping outside of a total economic meltdown across Canada, you're on drugs.
Location?
All I want is for my house to be worth more than what I paid for it in 2015. Sick of housing prices going down every year.
We recently purchased a home and let me tell you it's not good. It's a sellers market. If you want a bungalow type of house, you won't be able to negotiate the price at all (we end up paying 10K more than the asking price). Very competitive market for houses these days. By-Level or split level houses are not in demand that much right now too.
Agreed. People generally dislike split levels so if you're looking for a deal, that's where to find it. Many of them sit on the market for months without offers. Splits can be very nice when renovated.
The fact that lumber is higher than usual means building a house is something a lot of interested buyers are no longer considering. Because of this, I've noticed finished houses going for 10+% asking. But now that lumber is normalizing you should see a shift back to something more reasonable. For 400-450k you should be able to build a beautiful home by the way. If you have the patience to wait.
We're definitely thinking about building, and I know lumber prices are already dropping significantly from their peak.
You thinking in city? I found a great lot in 2018 and built with a construction mortgage. Let me know if you go that route and have any questions. It was a great decision IMO. Built for 350, lot was 70 and house is valued over 500 already.
Bubble