Thunder Bay real estate boom requires patience from buyers
CBC
New homeowner Kaylie Seed has some advice for anyone looking to buy a house in Thunder Bay these days.
"Tor first time homebuyers, especially, I think it's important to do your research, to look at what houses are going for areas that you're kind of interested in," Seed said. "I also think it's important that people are patient."
Seed and her husband recently purchased their first home in the city, after having rented a home in Fort Frances for the last two years.
"We were [in Fort Frances] because he was working there, and in January we found out that he needed to relocate to Thunder Bay," Seed told CBC News. "We were both a little nervous and anxious, because it was a seller's market, still is."
Thunder Bay has been a seller's market for some time, although things slowed a bit in October according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
The CREA said the median price for a single-detached home in Thunder Bay for the first 10 months of 2021 was $287,000. That's up 13.3 per cent from the same period in 2020.
The CREA said 92 single-detached home were sold in Thunder Bay in October 2021, which marked a decline of 20 per cent when compared with October 2020.
But during the first 10 months of 2021, 943 homes were sold in the city, which is an increase of 52.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2020.
Also in October, homes were staying on the market longer, with the average length of a listing being 17.5 days. In October 2020, houses were listed for an average of 15 days.
Seed said she and her husband were "extremely lucky" in their home search, and found their home fairly quickly, especially given their search took place during a busier time for the market: they began looking in March, and made a purchase in May.
However, she faced additional challenges due to the distance.
"We had an amazing realtor," Seed said. "Dayle Pettigrew was willing to go to homes and ... FaceTime with us if we needed to."
"Our fathers were both willing to go to homes and check things out for us if we were unable to come in to Thunder Bay," she said. "Things are so much different than they were a few years ago. I remember going with my parents to look at open houses and being able to go in on a Sunday and walk around, and that's not the way it is anymore."
"You have to plan in advance and schedule a time to go, look at a home," Seed said. "And that was something that was really difficult for us because we weren't always able to come up to Thunder Bay."
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