Well, this certainly has been a rocky road over the last couple of years for all industries, including real estate. Experts have been all over the map as to what they think will happen next.  The last two years we saw record breaking price increases. Today is another story and the house of cards has finally tumbled.

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The Ontario market (excluding Toronto and Ottawa), 2021 saw a gain of 18% in house pricing over 2020.  And then an additional 18% for just January and February of 2022.  Finally, the government raised interest rates which effectively caused the housing market to stall out.  Buyers began putting the brakes on which caused prices to tumble downward.  From February 2022 to today, prices have decreased approximately 28% from a median price of $875,000 to $680,000.

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Conditional offers are back! Buyers are once again able to do their due diligence. Offers with conditions of a home inspection and the financing clause have been unheard of for the last two years. Understandably, Sellers are in a bit of a shock, as well as disappointed that they missed the highest peak. The new reality is that the sale of their home may not come so easy today!

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This has not been 100% rosy for Buyers who purchased their home earlier this year. The second quarter of 2022 saw a lot of Buyer’s remorse as they saw the value of their home depreciate before their eyes. Many tried to get out of their legally binding purchase agreements only to find out that breaking that agreement would be a long and costly battle.  Part of the problem has been that banks are requesting appraisals late in the game and finding that the Buyers purchase amounts no longer align with the current house values.

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