With the market inflation that occurred during the pandemic, and the lull we’ve subsequently experienced in recent months, many people are left wondering what the future holds for home buying and selling.
Will the market stabilize in 2024? Will house prices fall? Will buyers have to engage in bidding wars again? By analyzing various factors, it is possible to foresee what the real estate market will look like this year.
A Look Back Over the Last Few Years
From 2021 to 2022, it was undoubtedly a sellers’ market. Indeed, house prices exploded during this period and a low supply led to frequent bidding wars. On the one hand, many homeowners profited by this boom. On the other, some of the people who acquired property at the time have grown poorer due to high interest rates.
Then, in 2023, it became increasingly difficult to sell homes valued over $500,000, in part as a result of rising interest rates. It must be mentioned that experiencing a little over a decade of mortgage interest rates around 2.5% was exceptional. It must be said that experiencing a little over a decade of mortgage interest rates that hovered around 2.5% was exceptional. This is no longer the case.
2024 Is Projected to Be More Stable
While we may not have a crystal ball that can reveal the future to us, it is possible to forecast certain real estate market trends:
- A slightly more active market: We predict that the pool of buyers will increase compared to 2023, and that the market will rebound. However, sellers will need to be patient as properties should be slower to find a buyer than during the pandemic. The strengthening market is the result of seemingly decreasing interest rates and high population growth throughout Québec. Since more people are looking for housing, logically there should be more buyers in the market.
- An end to bidding wars: In 2023, bidding wars still occasionally occurred over low-priced residences with highly sought-after features. It would be surprising for us to continue to see such situations in 2024. Going forward, properties will sell at a fair price.
- Better rates: At the beginning of January, we learned that mortgage rates were set to fall at banking institutions, which is excellent news for the market. In 2024 and 2025, the policy rate may also come down.
- The influence of the return to in-office work: Now that full-time telework in no longer the norm, many homeowners are realizing that moving away from major cities was perhaps not ideal. The money saved on a more affordable home bought in the country may not be worth the time lost travelling long distances between work and home. Consequently, home purchases in urban areas may rise in 2024.
However, this trend is unlikely to be marked if property prices remain as high as they are because people may choose to commute on the two or three days they are required to work in the office rather than go into debt by staying in the city. It should be remembered that in October 2023, the greater Montréal area experienced its second-lowest number of sales, according to the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec (APCIQ), since 2000, the year in which they began collecting data.
While no one can predict the future, all the signs indicate that the market should regain momentum in 2024. To the relief and benefit of both sellers and buyers.