Halifax Housing Market

[Addy]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

http://www.viewpoint.ca/ lists current as well as recent listings, where recent listings have both the asking price and the price that the house went for.

Thanks for posting this! At first I thought it was your site you were spamming and wasn't going to check it out.... but I'm glad I did! I need to get into it more tomorrow, but from what I've seen quickly it's a really good site for information.

[beyeas]

I am glad that I sold my suburb home back before things slowed down so much, and bought on the peninsula.

From what I have seen on the peninsula, homes that are up to date and have recent renos done are going very quickly and for more than ask. Homes that need work are not going.

People seem to still be willing to buy expensive homes on the peninsula, but if they are buying it they don't want to have to spend more.

I know when I bought mine a year ago I actually got stuck in a bidding war (that I back out of, and am so glad I did in retrospect) over a house in the south end... it ended up going for way more than asking after a war between 6 bidders all of whom submitted the bids with 8 hours of the house being on the market. On the other hand... there are homes listed today that were listed back when I was looking last year, and they are the ones that needed upgraded plumbing/wiring or general updating.

[Addy]

From the viewpoint website it seems houses on the peninsula are selling quickly (ie within 30 days for sure, some as little as a few days) and not much below asking price... maybe 5 to max of 8 K below asking. Bad news for us buying, but hopefully it keeps up for when we have to sell again in about five years.

[Dmajackson]

So for all of you who think Bedford is wealthy here's some food for thought.

According to a new study comissioned by BMO Canada the highest average wealth per household is found in Fall River which surprised the writers slightly but didn't catch me by surprise. As Halifax grows the privacy and large lots that wealthy people seem to love slowly get pushed out further into the hinterland. Once the southend it moved north towards Bedford, then west into Kingswood before ending in the Fall River - Beaverbank area.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

So for all of you who think Bedford is wealthy here's some food for thought.

According to a new study comissioned by BMO Canada the highest average wealth per household is found in Fall River which surprised the writers slightly but didn't catch me by surprise. As Halifax grows the privacy and large lots that wealthy people seem to love slowly get pushed out further into the hinterland. Once the southend it moved north towards Bedford, then west into Kingswood before ending in the Fall River - Beaverbank area.

Bedford IS wealthy... The study did say that Fall River had the highest income per capita, with Rothesay NB 2nd (although to be fair that would be skewed by the Irving families), and next on the list was Bedford.

The south end may have the highest priced homes on average in Atlantic Canada, but not the highest per capita incomes, although again to be fair that is probably skewed by whatever portion of the student population lives there year round and might be counted in that average (e.g. grad students).

Regardless... Bedford, not unsurprisingly, is the 2nd wealthiest area of NS on average.

[someone123]

Yeah, I found that claim puzzling. Being #2, probably by a small margin, doesn't mean that a place isn't wealthy. I agree that not everybody in Bedford (or Fall River) is fabulously well-off, but on average they are better off than most other places.

I haven't found the original study but the Herald article states that in absolute terms Halifax, Dartmouth, and St. John's have the largest number of wealthy households. This is what I would expect. Their average wealth is lower because the wealthy neighbourhoods happen to be agglomerated with poorer neighbourhoods.

[Wishblade]

Two sides to property demand
Rentals up, housing starts sluggish
By BRETT BUNDALE Business Reporter

It’s the tale of two real estate markets.

On one side, it’s the best of times as new multi-unit residential buildings shoot up across the Halifax skyline spurred by increased rental demand.

On the other side, it’s the worst of times with single-family housing sales and new housing starts pulled down by low employment growth, stagnant wages and high inflation.

"We’re seeing two very different things play out in the market this year," Matthew Gilmore, senior regional market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said Tuesday.

"Multi-residential apartment construction is seeing a very high growth rate this year. "If you look around the horizon, you’ll see cranes."

Louis Lawen, head of Dexel Developments Ltd., said there is always demand for new rental units in Halifax.

"Halifax is the only city in Canada that builds more multi-residential rental products than condo products," he said. "In other centres, for every 100 hundred units built, it’s typically 90 per cent condos and 10 per cent rental but in Halifax, it’s the inverse."

source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1265758.html

[worldlyhaligonian]

Of course rentals are up, most people can't afford these ridiculous McMansions.

Halifax rentals have been shit for years, I'm glad to see more development occurring to help curb the rent increases on crappy units in existing buildings.

[q12]

Wed Nov 09, 08:45 AM
Toronto top contributor as new-house prices edge up
The Canadian Press
http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20111109/...es-111109.html

OTTAWA — The New Housing Price Index rose 0.2 per cent in September, led by price hikes in Toronto and Oshawa, Ont.

Statistics Canada reports Winnipeg posted the largest monthly percentage increase, at 1.4 per cent, followed by Halifax (0.7).

The agency attributes Winnipeg's price increases primarily to higher material and labour costs as well as higher land values, while builders in Halifax cited higher material and labour costs.

Prices remained were in eight of the 21 cities surveyed in September.

StatsCan says the most significant monthly price declines were recorded in the metropolitan regions of Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, N.B., as well as in Edmonton (down 0.3 per cent).

Year over year, the new-house index was up 2.3 per cent in September following similar increases in July and August.

Expect to see this trend continue in Halifax...

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by q12

Expect to see this trend continue in Halifax...

New Brunswick really seems to be taking a hit these days, with their deficit issues seeming to really weigh down confidence. We have a number of huge budget and economic problems in Nova Scotia as well, but also have had enough successes of late that there doesn't seem to be the same hit to people's confidence. The structural deficit in NB also seems to that much harder to get out from under than NSs.

[q12]

Originally Posted by beyeas

New Brunswick really seems to be taking a hit these days, with their deficit issues seeming to really weigh down confidence. We have a number of huge budget and economic problems in Nova Scotia as well, but also have had enough successes of late that there doesn't seem to be the same hit to people's confidence. The structural deficit in NB also seems to that much harder to get out from under than NSs.

This is from the the Stats Canada website: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti...11109a-eng.htm

Some builders in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton cited slower market conditions as the primary reason for their price decreases

St. John's and Charlottetown are still doing very well year over year.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by beyeas

New Brunswick really seems to be taking a hit these days, with their deficit issues seeming to really weigh down confidence. We have a number of huge budget and economic problems in Nova Scotia as well, but also have had enough successes of late that there doesn't seem to be the same hit to people's confidence. The structural deficit in NB also seems to that much harder to get out from under than NSs.

This is not a popular view in the Maritimes but I think much of the problem has to do with the urban-rural split in NB. NS outside of Halifax has also been doing badly, with lots of jobs lost in the past year. I think NS will start to look better on paper as underperforming areas like CB become much smaller than Central NS. NB has a bit of that but Moncton, the strongest part of the province economically, is much smaller even in relative terms.

The province of NS has also gotten lucky financially with stuff like the offshore. Newfoundland is even luckier. It is kind of unfair and in my opinion a weakness of the Canadian system -- people living in NB should also profit from windfall offshore royalties or hydro in the North. They should not be shut out because of arbitrary geographical boundaries drawn up long before these resources were even known to exist.

[q12]

Halifax house sales up 34% after Irving deal

CBC News Posted: Jan 30, 2012 6:17 PM AT Last Updated: Jan 30, 2012 6:07 PM AT

The real-estate market in the Halifax area heated up after the announcement of a major ship-building contract, new figures show.

The Nova Scotia Association of Realtors statistics show sales increased 34 per cent by November 2011, compared to a year earlier.

Wayne MacIntosh, the president of the association, said he thinks it was a reaction to the $25 billion ship-building contract awarded by the federal government to Irving Shipyard in Halifax in October.

Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...-heats-up.html

I've heard there are homes in Halifax this month that sold the same day they were listed.

[halifaxboyns]

January numbers down 69 per cent over last year

New housing construction in Halifax slumped sharply in January, says Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

But take heart: other figures released Wednesday point to a sharp uptick in construction activity in Halifax Regional Municipality later this year as the navy shipbuilding contract gathers steam.

New residential construction fell by 69 per cent in January from the same month a year ago, according to data released Wednesday by the housing corporation. The big drop came in multi-unit starts — just 18 last month compared with 203 during the same month in 2011.

But Matthew Gilmore, senior market analyst with the housing corp.’s Atlantic Business Centre, said apartment starts can fluctuate a lot month to month.

December 2011, he said, was a prime example. That month, multi-unit housing starts in Halifax hit an unusually strong 383 units, making the January decline that much starker.

“I wouldn’t read anything into the low number for January,” Gilmore said. “We’re expecting a lot of apartments to start construction later in 2012.”

By then, the Halifax shipyard’s $25-billion navy contract should be well underway. But he said that the expected spurt in housing starts won’t be due to a single factor.

“It’s a positive reflection of economic growth.”

The rest of the story is here.

[someone123]

The month-to-month housing start numbers seem to be an old stand-by for journalists wanting to churn out a steady stream of articles. They are not very meaningful, particularly in a small city like Halifax. There are a small number of apartment starts per month and they are discrete events, so it's to be expected that there will be a lot of fluctuation.

[fenwick16]

(source and full story from the Daily Commercial News - http://dcnonl.com/nw/32501/cb )

Construction/Building — November 8, 2012
October 2012 Housing Starts in Halifax
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"Total residential housing starts in Halifax posted a significant increase last month as builders broke ground on 597 actual units," said Matthew Gilmore, CMHC`s Senior Market Analyst for Halifax. "The increase is largely attributed to a high level of multiple starts in October, specifically apartment-style rental unit construction," said Gilmore. "Real wage growth, positive net migration patterns and steady levels of employment continue to support demand for all types of housing in the city," added Gilmore.
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The story in the Daily Commercial News provided a link to the following CMHC housing start statistics - http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/esu...=1352516928296. Halifax seems to compare well to other Canadian cities with similar housing start numbers to the larger cities of Hamilton and Winnipeg, and the booming city of Saskatoon.

After starting off the year on a slow pace, 2012 appears as though it will be a strong year.

[q12]

Halifax's rental vacancy rate falls to 1 per cent

With Halifax's rental vacancy rate dropping to 1 per cent, the city now sits below Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal

The city's apartment rental vacancy rate has plummeted to roughly 1 per cent.

That according to a new report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation which says that's a drop from 1.6 per cent last year.

According to the report:

• Bachelor apartments are now renting for an average of $812, with a vacancy rate of 1.3%
• One bedrooms are renting for an average of $959, with a vacancy rate of 1%
• Two-bedrooms are renting for an average of $1,202, with a vacancy rate of 0.9%
• Three-bedrooms are renting for an average of $1,390, with a vacancy rate of 1.2%

NDP housing critic Lisa Roberts told NEWS 95.7 the numbers are troubling.

"I think the fact that our vacancy rate is marginally lower than Vancouver's is very concerning and also the scale of rent increases is very concerning," she said.

The average rent was up almost four per cent from $1,066 to $1,113 in Halifax.

With Halifax's rental vacancy rate dropping to 1 per cent, the city now sits below Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-ne...r-cent-2023362

[OldDartmouthMark]

That's amazing. It really underscores the rationale behind the residential building boom that we've been experiencing.

Just out of curiosity, what would be considered the ideal vacancy rate, if there is one?

[JonHiseler]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

That's amazing. It really underscores the rationale behind the residential building boom that we've been experiencing.

Just out of curiosity, what would be considered the ideal vacancy rate, if there is one?

3-5% is the ideal rate from what I've read

[OldDartmouthMark]

Thanks!