Halifax Home Prices Will Rise By 12.5 Percent This Year
HALIFAX—Halifax homes will be significantly more expensive at the end of 2022. Those higher costs will come on the heels of a 2021 that saw record-breaking price increases across the city’s housing market.
A new report from real estate firm Royal Lepage predicts home prices in Halifax will be 12.5 percent higher in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to a year earlier. That means the average home will cost $545,000 by the end of the year, compared to $484,800 at the end of 2021.
The firm says its projections for 2022 are based on the unexpected strength in the housing market over the first three months of the year. Its data show the aggregate price of a home in Halifax is up by 14.5 percent compared to the previous year. That puts the average price of a home in the city at $509,500.
Broken out by housing type, the median price of a single-family detached home increased 16.7 percent, to $569,100, while the median price of a condo rose 21.2 percent, to $411,000.
Matt Honsberger is the president of Royal LePage Atlantic. He says many expected the housing market to cool off in 2022 after a bonkers 2021. While that has happened to a degree, prices continue to rise steeply.
As has been the case for the past two years, the price spikes are fuelled by a crippling lack of housing supply in the city. The Nova Scotia Association of Realtors says the average price of a home in Halifax jumped by a stunning 25 percent over the past year.
Royal LePage’s predicted 12.5 percent spike seems low by comparison but is still massive in a single year.
“We are seeing the typical spring increase in listings but properties are being purchased after only a short time on the market,” Honsberger said. “While supply remains low, we will continue to see price gains.”
Phil Soper, Royal LePage’s president, says in a news release that home prices across Canada will continue to climb over the next couple of months thanks to a “relentless low-supply-high-demand imbalance.”
However, things won’t be as crazy as they were in 2021.
“Call it buyer fatigue or easing demand, these periods of uncomfortably high home price appreciation do run their course,” he said. “We are seeing the first signs of moderation in some regions, as more inventory is becoming available and competition eases slightly.”
Soper says the lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine have affected consumer confidence, so fewer people are in the market for a home.
“Yet, while there may be fewer bids on accurately priced properties, housing supply is so tight that multiple-offer scenarios remain the norm,” he says.
Soper added that while the Bank of Canada‘s recent announcement of a 0.5 percent interest rate increase will be a drag on demand, its impact will be “relatively minor compared to the impact of sharply higher home prices.”
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].