As the holidays draw closer we are going to do a few posts wrapping up the year. And what a year it has been for our real estate market and many other markets in Canada and the US. Today we are going to discuss some observations we’ve made throughout the year.
The Year of Multiple Offers
Multiple offers seemed to be a way of life this year. Bidding wars were everywhere, in all parts of town and all price ranges. This even spread to the commercial market as some retail, multifamily, and industrial buildings had multiple offers.
New Construction Is Back In A Big Way
New construction was a bit of a tough business since the recession of 2008 in our market. That changed in a big way as sales of new construction boomed all over the area. Clearly there was some pent up demand from the last several years and that translated into huge numbers.
The Local Economy Is Finally A Tailwind
We deal with lots of business owners, and so many of them talk about having way more business than they can handle. This applies across all industries. The local unemployment rate has plummeted from being one of the worst in Canada to below average. This bodes well for a continued buoyant, local real estate market.
We Need to Build More Condos
There are not enough condos out there to meet demand. With an aging demographic, mixed with the acceptance of condo living by Millennials, the once stagnant demand for condos locally is long gone. We expect to see more new condos being constructed in the next few years with brisk demand to meet them.
Downtown Is Still A Sore Spot
The downtown hasn’t really been able ride the coattails of the improvements in the local economy and real estate market as much as it was hoped for. We still need more people living down there to change the demographics to support more retail and attractions that people like to speak about. Hopefully the University opening in the near future will be a catalyst, but time will tell.
Those are some of our observations from 2016. What were yours?
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