Sarnia-area realtors are waiting for encouraging signs in the housing market after a recent 0.5 drop in the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate.
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That drop in October followed three cuts of a 0.25 each in the rate since June.
“I think overall it is a positive,” Jeremy Guerette, president of the Sarnia-Lambton Association of Realtors, said about the rate cuts.
But October’s home sales statistics for the Sarnia area were “uneventful” and “a little bit more of the same,” following several steady months, he said.
“I think it’s obviously going to have an impact, these rate drops,” Guerette said. “It’s just going to take some time.”
Last month’s 140 home sales were down six from September, but the overall value of about $74.5 million was up slightly, he said.
Listings in the local market also dropped in October. “Lowering of inventory is generally a positive sign,” Guerette said. “I want to keep an eye on that and see how does that go in November.”
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There is still “a healthy number” of properties for sale locally with 615 in October, which is considered more than a four-month supply, he said. “There’s lots to choose from.”
As the holiday season, and colder weather, approaches, “generally the sales do start to slow down,” he said.
Average home prices in the Sarnia-area market have held steady through the year, which is also positive, Guerette said.
In October, the average year to date home price was $529,211.
Prices did drop locally after what Guerette called “the COVID boom” when the Bank of Canada began raising interest rate to fight inflation.
That drop in prices “overall, wasn’t a terrible thing because it was making things a little bit more affordable,” Guerette said.
Local home prices have since “levelled out,” he said. “Maybe over the next couple of years we’ll start to see just some small increases. We don’t need big, big gains. . . just a steady growth.”
Dec. 11 is the Bank of Canada’s next scheduled interest rate announcement, Guerette said.
“We’re kind of expecting another drop before the end of the year, but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
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