While it may be a good time for some Canadian home buyers to make the jump into real estate, realtors say those selling their home could face difficulties.<\/p>\n
Spring is often a season that sees home sales ramp up, but depending on where you live and what kind of property you\u2019re trying to sell, you\u2019re likely to face a trickier time, experts say \u2014 and some, like condo owners, may need to \u201ctake the loss\u201d just to get a deal done.<\/p>\n
According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), home sales in April declined nearly 10% compared to last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people are just kind of waiting to see what\u2019s happening,\u201d said realtor Stephen Moore with Century 21 Leading Edge Realty brokerage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can blame it on the situation that Canada is in, where there was an election that kind of paused things, the Trump tariffs kind of put people at bay, those kind of things put people on the sideline. They want to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, certain markets like Toronto and Vancouver saw a stagnation in home sales and in prospective buyers who would purchase those properties.<\/p>\n
But Moore said that\u2019s not the case in every market.<\/p>\n
The national price map from CREA shows that while housing prices in Ontario have declined from a year ago \u2014 Ontario dropped from $902,535 to $859,645, while BC fell from about $1 million to $946,000 \u2014 other markets saw increases such as Alberta.<\/p>\n
That province saw an average increase of about $25,000 and Quebec rose by $50,000.<\/p>\n
Even at a more city level, Moore notes some cities saw price increases even if the average provincial price dropped. The Vancouver Island region saw prices increase by 3.1% and the Ottawa region saw an estimated 1.1% rise.<\/p>\n
So what does that mean if you\u2019re planning to sell your property?<\/p>\n
What are The Keys to Selling Right Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Moore told Global News while it can be difficult to predict exactly when the best time to sell will be, there are things homeowners can do including looking at the current situation in their market.<\/p>\n He says sellers must look to the \u201cthree Ps\u201d : price, promotion and product.<\/p>\n This means ensuring your property is staged well and has good photos in the listing, while also promoting the home through both realty services like the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and social media.<\/p>\n In addition, listing it for the right price is important as Moore notes if you\u2019re listed $10,000 above what it\u2019s worth, people won\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a great product and you\u2019re priced consciously, it may be a good time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that people set their home up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re prepared to be able to go through it and the market\u2019s not flooded, it\u2019s still a good time, there\u2019s still buyers out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If people are thinking of the right season to sell, Moore added fall could be the right time as summer often sees a lag in sales, while autumn is a time when people are trying to get things done before the winter holidays.<\/p>\n A recent report from RBC showed that while Canadian home prices continue to slide, there is a stabilization occurring with national home resales in April down only 0.1% from March, compared to a sharp cumulative 19% decrease in the prior four months.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US administration\u2019s decision to spare Canada from additional tariffs last month could boost confidence and attract buyers in coming months,\u201d said RBC chief economist Robert Hogue in the report.<\/p>\n Andrew Lis, director of economics at Greater Vancouver Realtors, said determining when to sell can require weighing what makes the most sense.<\/p>\n \u201cIt depends on an individual\u2019s financial situation and so on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are say a seller that\u2019s comfortably housed and you\u2019ve got a place that you\u2019ve lived in for some long period of time and you\u2019re looking to make a move, well, you\u2019re going to be competing with a lot of other sellers in the market. So you\u2019re going to have to have some realistic price expectations.<\/p>\n However, Toronto-based broker Melanie Piche told Global News it can be difficult to wait to sell especially if dealing with financial stress.<\/p>\n \u201cDepending how much equity you have in your property and how important it is to you, to me: if you have to sell, you need to be on the market and it\u2019s not a terrible market if you price yourself properly,\u201d Piche, co-founder of the BREL team, said.<\/p>\n Piche added those who have owned their property for a long time who expect to get a lot of money for their property, however, may find it better to wait, since many buyers want price flexibility.<\/p>\n Home owners should take into account the reasons why they want to sell when deciding whether to wait or sell now, according to Tony Tintinalli, BMO Bank of Montreal head of specialized sales.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really is about, why do you need to move? Like if there\u2019s a timeline and a decision, then accelerating that is really going to be dependent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can try to play the market and you can, you try to study it as much as you can, but ultimately, what is the goal here? If you need to be somewhere, then getting going on it is probably the best way to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s why he noted it can be wise to work with an expert like a realtor to better understand the market and how to sell your property, as opposed to waiting and jumping in when you think it\u2019s right.<\/p>\n Condo Market in “Big Trouble” : Realtor<\/strong><\/p>\n Realtors add that single-family homes appear to be seeing higher demand compared with multi-unit options like condominiums, which means those condo owners are having more difficulty selling.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest reason why is because the majority of these condos that have been built over the last decade have been, for lack of a better term or marketing term, like a dog crate condo so 500 square feet or less.\u201d<\/p>\n The RBC report showed condos were leading the price decline, with Toronto\u2019s MLS home price index down 7.3% annually, with Vancouver\u2019s down 2%.<\/p>\n \u201cRising inventories have shifted market dynamics decisively in buyers\u2019 favour throughout Ontario and BC, creating some of the most buyer-friendly conditions in decades,\u201d said Hogue.<\/p>\n Piche highlighted that the uncertainty caused by tariffs and interest rates to nine months worth that would take the same amount of time to sell.<\/p>\n The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board in their April report showed sales for a condo apartment dropped by 30% year-over-year in April. The Greater Vancouver Realtors also showed significant decline compared to last year, with condos seeing a 20%t drop in sales.<\/p>\n The biggest buyers of those condos have been investors and first-time home buyers, Piche noted, but added the uncertainty has \u201cscared off\u201d the two primary buying groups for the condos.<\/p>\n For Piche, when to sell really depends on your current situation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the question is less about what month should you list in but what is that strategy behind it in terms of pricing and what your needs are,\u201d Piche said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re happy to stay somewhere for five years or three years then, you know what, you can hold on and wait ..\u2026 But if you need to sell, I think it\u2019s incredibly risky to be waiting because we just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n But Moore paints a potentially starker picture for condo owners.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think, well, I\u2019ll wait until the fall to sell my condo, it\u2019s not going to be any better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be better for 2026, it\u2019s not going to get any better for 2027. The condo prices are already inflated, you just need to take the loss if you\u2019re selling and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n