Skip to content

Buyers can take their time, be selective

The Estevan real estate market is flush with options heading into the busiest buying and selling season of the year. For buyers, there are a lot of options, perhaps more than ever before, while sellers may have to fight for attention.
Real Estate, house
There is no shortage of homes on the market, according to real estate experts, and it's allowing buyers to take their time.

The Estevan real estate market is flush with options heading into the busiest buying and selling season of the year.

For buyers, there are a lot of options, perhaps more than ever before, while sellers may have to fight for attention. Prices have seen a slight dip from their all-time highs, but where the market will balance out is still unknown.

What is known is availability, which is great news for those looking to buy.

Even though sellers should still receive good sale prices, Rhonda Blanchette, Re/Max realtor, doesn’t want to say Estevan is necessarily a buyers’ market, however, because of the glut in inventory, she said, “buyers have an edge they haven’t had in a few years.”

“You could say our shortage is over. We have a surplus of condos. We have a surplus of single family listings,” said Josh LeBlanc, realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Prairieview.

To Lynn Chipley, broker at Century 21 Real Estate in Estevan, the inventory surge is something that will not just help reduce prices short term but also aid in managing any resurgence back to the boom times of just a couple of years ago.

“We have the biggest over supply I’ve ever seen, so I do think it’s going to take quite a bit longer to absorb that inventory,” said Chipley. “The upside is that if there is a sudden boom or a new construction project announced in the area that brings people in, we’re going to be far better prepared this time.

“What happened (in 2012) was the first time I’d seen anything like it in 27 years. The city wasn’t prepared. No one was really prepared.”

Chipley said based on the number of sales she is seeing, the market is nearing a point where people are comfortable with current prices.

“We have lots of products on the market. We have a record number of listings for the city,” said Chipley, noting there were 188 listings in Estevan, combining single-family, multi-family and condo units.

Chipley and LeBlanc remarked there haven’t been as many sales of higher-priced houses recently. LeBlanc said one house has sold for more than $500,000 since Jan. 1, and prior to that, nothing has been sold for more than $370,000.

But Blanchette said there are still many listings in the city for homes that are more than $650,000.

“We had a lot of inventory throughout the summer and the fall, so even people who were serious about buying would take their time and really look and try to get a deal because there was so much out there,” said Blanchette.

“Prices are finally at a point where they’re allowing individuals to purchase a home,” added LeBlanc. “There isn’t a massive rush like there has been in the past for people to pick a house and go for it. So people are taking their time and shopping. They know there’s lots out there.”

While the units that are out there haven’t had prices plummet in any fashion, the price has fallen. Chipley is anticipating pricing similar to that seen in 2011, which, she noted, was a year of record high housing prices, only to be outdone in subsequent years.

“We’ve continued to see a slow slide in pricing, in house prices and in rents. It’s not astronomical and it’s not drastic, but it is certainly very evident that prices are on a bit of a downward trajectory. I’m kind of anticipating 2011 pricing,” she said.

Blanchette noted she had expected prices to drop more and people may be taking more time before making any big decisions.

She said buyers are still coming in all shapes and sizes. Some are buying their dream home, while others are looking for something they can add value to through renovations.

Those who can afford high-end homes are still doing so, and those looking at lower-end units are still finding value in what is available. It’s the middle that may be seeing the most cautious buyers at the moment.

“Typically, that has been our busiest price range, right in the middle. Right now people are waiting to see what happens,” Blanchette said.

Because of that, the market is relatively quiet. It may ultimately be decided by who blinks first, buyers or sellers.

The interest rate, as well, is a positive for potential borrowers. Chipley said the key interest rate, reduced to 0.75 per cent by the Bank of Canada in January, does make a noticeable difference in buyers’ behaviours, and Blanchette said if the interest rate isn’t encouraging new buyers, it’s enticing some to refinance their mortgages.