Buyers can expect to pay slightly more for a resale home in Thunder Bay next year, despite a predicted softening in demand.
A report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimates that the average price for a resale home in the Thunder Bay metropolitan area will range between $230,400 and $246,400 in 2017, compared with an estimated $229,900 to $242,100 this year.
CMHC forecasts that MLS sales in the Thunder Bay area next year will drop from between 1,375 and 1,425 units this year to between 1,300 and 1,400 units next year.
Despite an anticipated dip in the number of new listings next year, the agency says the sales-to-new-listings ratio will remain around the ten-year average at near 70 per cent.
CMHC points out that is well off the 80 per cent plus level seen in the three years ending in 2013.
Thunder Bay Real Estate Board president Diane Erickson told tbnewswatch.com that the selling price of resale homes within the city boundaries this year averaged $231,990, compared with $228, 570 in 2015.
Erickson said the number of variables at play in the housing market makes it difficult to predict the outlook for next year.
"We're hoping for a good year next year and that's all we can hope for," Erickson said, adding that "Thunder Bay is not showing a bad job stability, so we're hoping the market will continue to be productive."
CMHC says that overall, housing market conditions in the Thunder Bay area are balanced despite a decline in new listings. Its report notes that "Active listings have been rising as vendors appear to be prepared to wait longer to sell their homes."
It says listings above $400,000, which represent 25 per cent of the inventory, have been taking longer to sell.
