For the first time I can remember, I saw a “Reduced for sale” sign on a house in my neighbourhood. It was in December and I didn’t pay much attention because of the holidays. But it stuck with me. What’s happening with houses in the area?
I drove around on Sunday to see if there were any more of these signs. I didn’t see many realtor signs at all. Just one “Sold” sign on a house that’s been up for sale for months, and two “For Lease” signs on a couple of old commercial properties.
I asked Saniya about it. She’s a fellow parent at Rawlinson Public School, and a mortgage broker. She said it’s normal for the real estate market to be slow in the winter, but overall, the housing market is down. House prices have been reduced. And the condo market has crashed.
“You can now buy a condo for $400,000, when you could only buy it for $750,000 before,” says Saniya.
But house prices are another story.
Reduction depends on the neighbourhood, and the street. Saniya knows of a couple of houses on her street that dropped below a million. But on other streets, house prices aren’t going down.
Houses are still going for over $1 million, including in my area of Oakwood Village.
So, we’re still at a standstill. We can’t afford to move out, so what about moving up?
In my own case, my kids are growing up, and my elders are growing old, so we’re planning to build more room for them in our house.
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
Also, the “reduced” sign didn’t say “affordable” after all.