Real estate report optimistic

A new report by real estate giant RE/MAX may be cause for some guarded optimism.

The 2017 Spring Market Trends Report notes that regionally the housing market has been slightly soft recently. The average residential property price for Regina so far in 2017 is $306,036, down two per cent from 2016.

This is in contrast with southern Ontario, particularly the Greater Toronto Area, where prices skyrocketed by up to 39 per cent, driving buyers to the suburbs, consequently driving up prices in smaller markets as well.

The report notes that the west, particularly Saskatchewan and Alberta, have not fully recovered from the 2014 slump in oil revenues, but sees positive signs moving forward.

“New residential and commercial development projects in markets across the country are expected to fuel demand in these regions,” a press release stated. “These cities include Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Victoria, and Regina in the west and Windsor, London-St. Thomas, Hamilton-Burlington, Mississauga, Barrie, Durham, Brampton, Ottawa, Saint John, and Halifax in central and eastern Canada.”

Jack Wruth, president and general manager of RE/MAX Blue Chip Realty Yorkton, said there is reason for optimism locally as well.

“We almost always follow the trends,” he said. “Currently we’re seeing a lull; there’s not a lot of activity. I don’t see the lull lasting very long, though.”

Wruth expects the local market will improve within a year or less.

And he does not think the lull is related to the recent rise in property assessments or anticipation of the City’s property tax increase.

“People buy based on their needs, not necessarily taxation, until it gets so high it becomes an impediment and then they stop buying altogether,” Wruth said.

And that is certainly not the case in Yorkton, he noted, where both housing prices and taxes remain comparatively low.

When the market picks up, Wruth anticipates demand will be for existing homes as there is currently no new construction happening.