At the beginning of the month I kicked off the first show of the fourth season of Reality Realty. I took a little break from the show during the summer, but it has been good to be back on the air. If you tuned in you may have heard my wife, CaroleAnn and I talking about the changes in the market that we have seen in the past two years. Very interesting to look back and compare to where we are currently at in the residential real estate market in Northumberland County. Here is a summary of the changes we have seen:
- Prior to 2015 our home price index was staying fairly constant
- In 2015, a Northumberland neighbourhood that may have been increasing in price at a home price index of 5%/year made a sharp increase to approximately 7.5%/year
- That same neighbourhood experienced growth in the home price index to approximately 10% in 2016
- As we progressed through the first 4 months of 2017, all bets were off – that same neighbourhood was arguably setting a pace to set a 17% increase for that same neighbourhood
- Then came Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario government in late April with a 16 item housing plan meant to cool the frenzied market that we were experiencing
- At the front and centre of this laundry list of new rules was the 15% Foreign Home Buyer Tax
- Almost immediately the market changed
- Currently markets are slowly gaining some strength – keeping in mind, it has always been a Seller’s market.
It is always interesting to look back and review the real estate market. It is not always predictable which keeps us on our toes. We will see what the rest of 2017 and then 2018 has to bring! If you missed our first show back on Reality Realty and would like to listen in to hear more about this topic, go to: https://northumberland897.ca/realityrealty/
