Clients, Friends and Neighbours,
After several months of growing momentum, consumer confidence once again took a hit, this time from the uncertainty surrounding tariffs and a potential trade war.
Helping to offset this dark news the Bank of Canada just lowered its overnight policy rate by 25 basis points from 3 per cent to 2.75 per cent. There is a strong argument for policy rates to be even lower, though such a path is complicated by the inflationary impact of retaliatory Canadian tariffs.
Even though borrowing costs have come down from their peak, 2025 and 2026 are expecting a wave of mortgage renewals for those homeowners who purchased with five-year-fixed-rate mortgages while rates were still at historic lows. This leaves many homeowners facing renewal at a much higher rate and could potentially launch a lot of new listings onto the market.
The threat of an uptick in new listings are not expected to throw the market out of balance but are more an indication of the number of households that are not able to keep up financially. Additionally, if businesses suffer under the trade war we may also see a wave of distressed selling on top of this influx.
With the current accumulation of listings on the market, overall sale numbers are still signaling buyers conditions with softening home prices in Surrey, Cloverdale and White Rock.
South Surrey / White Rock saw benchmark prices across home types soften in February when compared to Feb last year. Down -4.1 per cent for detached homes, -3.2 per cent for townhomes and to -1.9 per cent for apartments. Similar numbers were posted across home types in Surrey and Cloverdale.
Also contributing to accumulating inventory, many listings are sitting on the market having been priced well above the last comparable sales in the area. As we move into the 2025 spring market - to prevent a listing from going stale it’s a good idea to consider listing at a sharp price. Sellers are always better off trimming their listing price by 5 per cent rather than accepting an offer 15 per cent below ask price.
Although we don’t expect this most recent rate drop to completely alleviate concerns around the economic forecast we do expect it will be the encouragement prospective buyers and sellers need to move forward with their real estate goals in 2025.
Jenn & Colin
Comments:
Post Your Comment: