Thoughts From Judy Stacee-Cleaver Broker of Record, FRI, ABR, ASA, What a Year We've Had!

Sales and Prices are up and looks like interest rates are going up too. In the spring of 2017, just over four years ago, we reached a price peak in the market. What happened? Almost overnight sales and prices started to drop. Thinking back, the banks and CMHC wanted to put a lid on the prices increasing so quickly. Policies were created making it difficult for Buyers to qualify--stress tests were designed to slow things down.

Then, in 2018, we had a year of slow sales and prices started to drop. Sellers, however, were waiting for the prices to go back up, wanting to maximize and cash out.  

By 2019, Buyers and Sellers tired of waiting and sales and prices slowly started to pick up. The interest rates were at an all-time low but it wasn't until the spring of 2020 when we came back up to 2017 prices.  
By this time, we were in a full-scale pandemic. It wasn't just in Canada. It was world-wide. 
Sellers wanted to move out of the city. Buyers came out of the woodwork scrambling to take advantage of low interest rates. Prices and sales started to climb rapidly.

Money came from everywhere. The fresh batch of listings Sellers had been waiting to sell were unleashed.
Families gathered together and pitched in. Soon Buyers were willing to pay and Sellers could ask any price. 
Here we are. 2022. We are being told that interest rates may start to increase as soon as March. We're still not out of the woods with the pandemic, but more people are getting vaccinated. 

I have no predictions as we enter this new year, but I can't imagine prices dropping...maybe only leveling out. 
So perhaps now may be the best time to sell.