Is it still a Buyer’s Market?

The February issue of Toronto Life included a harrowing account of the real estate scene in its particular neck of the woods: a spate of bidding wars; asking prices going up by the week; people having to pay $100,000 more than they expected for the sort of house they wanted; a turn of events to gladden the hearts of vendors and listing agents.
Nearer home, we saw a flurry of activity and some upward price movement in Niagara Falls last year. And in my hometown of Niagara-on-the-Lake, listings are frequently selling like hot cakes.

But does it all mean we're back to a Sellers' Market?
Are we looking at a re-run of the 80s and 90s when houses were making more money a year than their owners were? When it didn't really matter if you paid more than you should -- because the ongoing rise in values would rapidly provide a correction? When you could recover your money -- and often make a profit -- if you had to resell in a couple of years or so?

Well, I no longer list properties, I work solely with purchasers (which makes me what's called an Exclusive Buyer Broker), and I'm not too easily persuaded.
The real estate market changed dramatically when its bubble burst in the mid 90s. There wasn't just a sudden 20-30% drop in prices. There was also a pronounced shift in the buying public's thinking.
What some people called the Mulroney Error did more than take the heat out of the housing market.and put an end to what Pierre Trudeau described as people's "rising expectations."

Nowadays, we can no longer take job security for granted. To get a pay increase, we now need a promotion. Year upon year is more likely to be the same old, same old, rather than a constant step up in personal prosperity.
Sure, the oil companies can get away with price spikes, even though the hydro people didn't succeed with theirs, but for the recent past and foreseeable future our economy has been and will continue to be governed by the idea of stability.
And, in my view, the real estate market is subject to this principle as much as anything else is. Despite the media's excitement when people are falling over themselves to buy houses, what you buy today shouldn't be costing you more than it did yesterday -- and tomorrow the value ought to be about the same.

If you'd care to call and discuss any of these points with me, I'll be only too pleased to hear from you.

Thank you for your time.                                                              

Duncan Pollock Real Estate Broker
427 Gate Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada L0S 1J0
Tel: 905-468-3154 Fax: 905-468-3812 Cellular: 905-704-9037
email: duncanpollock@sympatico.ca
Note: E-mail addressed changed as above on Nov 3 2007
website: http://www.duncanpollock.com/