In its most recent metropolitan resale index, the Conference Board of Canada says the Newfoundland real estate scene is a buyer’s market.
There was a 3.3 per cent decline in the number of listings from March through April. Still, the province was one of only a handful of the 28 areas across the country to see a year-over-year increase in the number of listings, to the tune of 6.3 per cent.
Sales, meanwhile, experienced a 21.2 per cent decrease from March through April, which is on par with the year-over-year decrease of 26.1 per cent.
The Board suggests that the number of home sales and listings decreasing in 20 of the 28 areas is due to the federal government’s new rules around the mortgage stress test, which requires homebuyers to prove they can pay their uninsured mortgage at the negotiated rate plus two percentage points or at the Bank of Canada’s five-year benchmark rate.
