“Just a little bit of a bump in demand could be the difference between homes selling in three, four weeks versus selling in two weeks or selling a lot faster.”
The association forecast the national average home price will rise by 10.8 per cent on an annual basis to $762,386 by the end of 2022 and hit $786,252 in 2023.Article contentIn June, a trio of Desjardins economists said they expected the average national home price to fall by 15 per cent between its February high — $817,253 — and the end of 2023, but because “we’re almost there,” they adjusted their forecast in August to predict a drop between 20 and 25 per cent.
In anticipation of a drop in prices, agents have noticed prospective buyers sitting on the sidelines of the market in recent months, while sellers come to terms with the fact that their homes won’t fetch as much money as they would have at the start of the year.Article content“We are seeing lowball offers,” said the Vancouver agent with Keller Williams Realty VanCentral.
Much of the shift is attributable to mortgage rates, which mirror fluctuations in interests rates and can eat into buying power. “If you look at the 10-year average of Metro Vancouver, housing prices are way up and if they do dip, they might dip slightly and come back up. There’s always been sort of a steady incline with dips along the way.”
Markets, she said, tend to be very localized and the surges or drops some see may not be mimicked in others.