BC Business
Buying a new home | BCBusinessHalf of the home buyers surveyed think it's a buyer's market with plenty of homes up for sale.
If you want a good sense of the current zeitgeist surrounding B.C.'s favourite pastime – real estate – there's a survey that pretty well sums it up. Apparently, it's a roll of the dice. Lower Mainland consumers, it appears, are split on whether or not it’s a good time to buy a home this spring. The season of renewal is prime home-buying time, when consumers leave their winter hideouts and venture out in the hopes of finding a new nest.
Buying a new home | BCBusinessHalf of the home buyers surveyed think it’s a buyer’s market with plenty of homes up for sale.
Lower Mainland consumers, it appears, are split on whether or not it’s a good time to buy a home this spring. The season of renewal is prime home-buying time, when consumers leave their winter hideouts and venture out in the hopes of finding a new nest.
Whether it’s out of boredom or whether they actually need a new nest is another matter. I’m convinced people sometimes buy homes just because they’re tired of their old ones. There’s no better cure for the inevitable problems that come with owning a home than to get a new one with a different set of problems.
About half those surveyed by Real Estate Weekly, the online search portal for real estate buyers, sellers, agents, brokers and developers, think it’s a great time to buy. The other half thinks it’s terrible.
Sounds like a classic seeing the glass as half-full, or half-empty situation.
Most of those who think it’s a great time to plunge – about 48 per cent – cite record-low interest rates as their main reason. With interest rates in the 2 per cent range, that’s pretty compelling. (Of course those rates will inevitably go up – sometime – so there is a bit of a gambling instinct there.)
Another reason cited for buying now is that it’s a buyer’s market with a lot of product available.
Meanwhile, half of the 42 per cent of those surveyed – the glass half-empty people – cited record-high prices as the main reason to stay out of the market. No argument there; some prices are breathtakingly high.
A minority see a housing bubble building and expect a market correction with falling prices to come soon. Obviously they’re bucking the conventional thinking that house prices will go straight up forever.
Half of those who don’t think it’s a good time to buy (49 per cent) cite high prices, and 17 per cent of them see a housing bubble and expect a market correction with falling prices.
Meanwhile, a 56 per cent majority of respondents believe now is a good time to sell a house or condo in the Vancouver real estate market. Of this group, 18 per cent cite high prices as the reason to sell this spring, and 17 per cent believe there will be a market correction that will result in dropping prices.
All this tells you that when it comes to real estate, even the thrill-seeking Vancouver region buyers are . . . well . . . uncertain.
Real Estate Weekly general manager Ian Martin says this uncertainty is reflected in this year’s sales figures, which show sales to be below the 10-year average so far.
“Our spring survey findings highlight the duality of opinions between buying now or waiting,” he said. “On one hand you have potential home buyers seeing the low mortgage interest rates as a good opportunity to buy now. On the other hand, you have those who believe we’re due for a housing price correction.”
Which tells me that nobody knows for sure and real estate is a roll of the dice these days.