SELLERS ARE FORCED TO SELL APARTMENTS UP TO 10% BELOW LAST YEAR'S PRICES.
My name is Denis Kornienko, I am a real estate expert in Montreal, a realtor with the REMAX agency, the largest in Quebec.
If you have been thinking about selling or buying a home, I will be happy to represent and protect your interests.
On my channels, I share the most up-to-date information about the real estate market in Montreal and the suburbs where I spend my working day - what is happening right now.
High interest rates, not enough properties coming up for sale, some buyers are unable to get a loan for the amount they need, official statistics - we discuss all these topics constantly. And what happens to prices?
I visit different areas of Montreal every day, as well as on the South Bank, Laval and further north, in the west - Vaudreuil, Saint Lazare, in the east we often go to Repentigny. We look at a large number of objects and I always monitor the fate of those houses and apartments that we visited. How many offers were there to buy them, and how much were they eventually sold for? This really helps to get a feel for the market for further analysis.
After all, everyone needs exactly this: a clear picture of what is happening at the moment and what our future strategy is, if we are ready to make an offer to purchase.
What you need to know about real estate prices? That the last word is always with the sellers.
I would break sellers into three main categories: Dreamers, Ready But Not Right Away, and Buyer Luck.
👉 About a third are dreamers. Their houses and apartments are overpriced. Do you think the seller doesn't know about this? Of course he does. Most likely, he even understands that he will not be able to sell for this money. But he is warmed by the dream that there will be a buyer who will fall in love with this particular house and will give last year’s price for it.
This category consists mainly of people who would like to improve their living conditions by selling at the price that was at the peak of the market and buying at the new prices adjusted in 2023. Judge for yourself how realistic this business plan is.
In most cases, after being on the market for several months to a year, “dreamers” take their home off the market and at this point all plans are put on the shelf.
👉 “Ready, but not right away” – this is probably about another third. The category of sellers who are ready to sell and will eventually do so, but will start with an inflated price and, if there is no interest, will gradually reduce the price until a real offer appears.
Such sellers have a lot of time; they can be on the market from six months to several years. In most cases, they will sell their home and move on to their goals and dreams.
👉 Finally, “luck for the buyer”.. This is the part of the sellers who decided to sell their home and will make a deal with the buyer who offers the highest price to date. These are mainly sales by heirs, divorces, or sales in a situation where the family already has a new home and needs to free up funds from another property for new plans.
Of course, many more categories of sellers can be distinguished, but these three groups are the main ones, clearly visible.
When working with buyers, we always try to get into the third category of sellers, but we also don’t forget about the second, where we need to discuss the price with the sellers, but a little later, when some time has passed and the seller’s expectations become more realistic.
It takes time, you need to travel a lot, look, analyze daily and give many offers for purchase.
❗️ Now, in my experience, it’s possible to get an average discount of 10% from last year’s prices for an apartment or house, but be prepared to work hard. Once interest rates start to go down, and we don't know when that will be, prices will immediately go up due to more buyers entering the market looking for their first home. Especially when we are talking about real estate up to $300,000.
In the last few months, I have noticed an increase in the rush to buy inexpensive three-bedroom apartments (4 1/2) among my clients.
Today it is possible to buy a good apartment in the suburbs from $240 -270 thousand. Until recently, these apartments were $30,000 more expensive.
Only our “experts” from the Central Bank of Canada know what will happen to the interest rate in the future. They have their own vision of the situation, but this is not the topic of the article. I share thoughts on similar topics, as well as personal observations on my Telegram channel.
