Regina a buyer’s market, resale ‘snapshot’ shows
Despite seeing a seven per cent year-over-year increase in house prices in the last three months, Regina is considered a buyer’s market, according to the Conference Board of Canada’s latest metro resale “snapshot” released Thursday.
Only four markets in Quebec and two in British Columbia were in a “buyer’s” state. Regina and Saint John, N.B., were the other buyer’s markets last month.
There were, unsurprisingly, no seller’s markets in Canada’s largest urban areas, the report said.
Regina posted a 5.9 per cent increase in home sales and 7.5 per cent increase in listings in February over January. But on a year-overyear basis, sales dropped nearly 23 per cent in February, while listings increased by 23 per cent during the same period, resulting in a buyer’s market.
Nationally, resale markets mostly softened again last month. Sales were below January levels in 16 of the 28 markets covered in the March report.
However, only six of these areas suffered a drop exceeding five per cent. Transactions fell from February 2012 in 26 of 28 markets, including 22 where the decline was at least five per cent.
Listings dipped in half of our 28 markets between January and February and were below their February 2012 level in 20 of these. Falling listings also signal market weakness, since homeowners do not want to sell under soft market conditions.
In another sign of widespread lethargy, the sales-to-listings ratio fell in 25 markets between January and February. Nonetheless, 20 of our 28 markets were still in a “balanced” state in February, the report said.
Sluggish conditions trimmed the average price in 26 markets between January and February, although the average price was still up from February 2012 in 20 markets. Moreover, the year-overyear price rise was at least four per cent in 12 areas.