N.B. housing market shows signs of cooling as sales slow and prices steady
CBC
After years of high prices and quick sales going way above listing prices, the housing market may be trending toward some equilibrium — at least in New Brunswick.
Statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association show the number of homes sold last month is down 2.1 per cent compared to September 2024.
“Market conditions are moving towards a balanced market, but still tilted slightly towards the sellers market,” said Kim Hunter, a Saint John-area realtor with EXIT Realty Specialists.
For September, the stats also showed home sales were 11.5 per cent below the five-year average and 8.4 per cent below the 10-year average.
Hunter said we’re getting closer to seeing a balance between supply and demand.
“Homes are selling within a reasonable time period, not these crazy two and three days on the market. And prices are growing more steadily, but not as sharply,” said Hunter, who is also a director of the New Brunswick Real Estate Board.
She said most houses now take seven to 10 days to sell.
Although prices are still going up, Hunter said they’re starting to “cool a little bit.”
“Prices aren’t increasing as significantly as they did back in 2022,” she said.
The benchmark price of a single-family home is still up just over five per cent compared to a year ago.
The average price of a home in New Brunswick is $341,101.
Hunter said the three cities are still mostly seller markets, but the north and valley regions bring that average down to create a provincially close-to-balanced market that leans toward sellers.
The north region includes communities north of Shediac, like Miramichi, Bathurst and Campbellton, as well as the centre of the province. The valley region takes in all the towns along the St. John River valley north of Fredericton.
The north and valley region helped offset the decline in house sales with an increase of 6.5 per cent, while greater Moncton was unchanged, and Saint John had a 4.6 per cent decline. Fredericton had the biggest year-over-year decline at 10 per cent.
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