Wednesday’s half-point drop in the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate was welcome but surprising news, says the president of the Sarnia-Lambton Association of Realtors.
Article content
The drop follows a similar cut in October and three, quarter-point cuts in the rate since June.
“I was pretty sure we were going to see a quarter-point” cut so the deeper half-point drop by the bank was a surprise, said association president Jeremy Guerette.
“Having two, half-point drops in a row kind of shows the commitment of the Bank of Canada to work on trying to balance out our economy and make sure things are rolling,” he said.
The move will lower interest rates on mortgages and help with “affordability” for home buyers, but any impact isn’t likely to be felt immediately in the Sarnia-area market, particularly because of the time of year, Guerette said.
“It will continue to help the market, but I wouldn’t expect we’ll see the full impact until the spring,” he said. “We’re in a cautious market.”
Article content
The real estate market in the Sarnia area was “definitely lower” in November “but I think we kind of expected that,” Guerette said.
There were 121 sales locally in November compared to 134 in October.
“It was late fall coming into winter and we had already had a bit of a slower year,” Guerette said.
The number of new listings dropped to 243 in November, from 264 the previous month.
“We stayed in the balanced market, so I thought it was pretty steady,” Guerette said.
The year-to-date average sale price also remained steady and was sitting at $529,000 in November.
Prices have moved down locally only about one per cent in the last year, following two years of “down” markets, Guerette said.
“To me that shows a balancing out of the market which, if we’re looking at past trends, would generally be followed by a little uptick the following year,” he said. “I think that’s kind of what we’re hoping for and what most analysts are projecting.”
With that in mind, Guerette said he’s expecting “a little bit of a boost” in sales and average home prices in 2025.
“That is subject to a lot of variables, so we’ll have to see how it plays out,” he said.
The current inventory of homes on the market “is on the high side” locally with the nearly 600 active listing in November considered five months of inventory, Guerette said.
“That’s a positive thing for buyers to enter into the market with rates getting better,” he said.
Share this article in your social network