The Surprising Math Behind The Value Of Your Halifax Home
HALIFAX — The Halifax housing market was red hot through most of this year. Buyers were offering hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price and houses were sold almost as soon as they were listed. But, much like the autumn wind, that market has cooled.
In April, the average home price in the city was $580,000. According to the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors, the average price in September was roughly $80,000 less.
As the market slumps a little, it’s no surprise homeowners are thinking twice about selling. But Halifax’s Domus Realty has teamed with local marketing agency Wunder to remind people it might still be a good time to sell.
Throughout Halifax this fall you will see 200 square-foot billboards educating people on how much their real estate is worth if it’s the same size as the advertisement.
“200 sq.ft in Rockingham is worth around $77,200,” reads one of the billboards.
Framed that way, the market might not seem as cool to some.
Dawn Dauphinee, the owner of Domus Realty, said she wanted to do something different than the usual advertisement that’s mostly just a photo of the realtor. With this new ad campaign, potential sellers are receiving information they can use when deciding to sell or stay.
“The market needs to move and to do that you need inventory,” said Dauphinee on why she started the ad campaign. “Being professionals, we like to add value in everything we do. These billboards aren’t just your regular realtor ad. It was value added to the consumer.”
Domus is a small, independent realtor with nine agents. They focus solely on Halifax and the surrounding areas.
It’s clear some potential sellers may have cold feet in Halifax. Dauphinee notes that Domus has very low inventory right now (there were just 16 listings on their webpage as of late October).
And the reasons for the market cooling are many, including some government action. The federal government is banning non-Canadians from buying residential properties, starting in January. And, of course, it costs much more now to get a mortgage or loan with the new 3.75 percent interest rate set by the Bank of Canada.
“The interest rates are rising so quickly,” said Dauphinee. “This is historically the highest interest rate hike ever. There’s also the implementation of the deed transfer tax for out- of- province buyers.”
“[It’s for] protecting Canadians so I understand why it all happened, but Nova Scotia is a great place to live and we want to continue having a great place to live.”
Even though home prices have fallen compared to half a year ago, the market is still strong if you look at 2021. September’s average price tag of $499,000 is six percent higher than a year ago.
And that is the point of the billboards- to show sellers that there are still reasons to be optimistic if they choose to list their home.
“There are still buyers, and homes are now priced appropriately. And they are selling.”
“We’re not getting the crazy bids that we were in the first quarter. But those weren’t a healthy, sustainable market. We’re going back to where people are shopping within the price brackets.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].