All real estate is local. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) allows you to see the most accurate price trends for a specific type of house in a given region, municipality or neighbourhood. Each month, the CREA Café will highlight one community to offer a snapshot of the Canadian housing market.
It was a busy March for REALTORS® in Moncton, New Brunswick. According to Greater Moncton REALTORS ® du grand Moncton, 233 units sold in March 2019, only 11 sales shy of the single month sales record for March set back in 2017.
Moncton REALTORS® sold 615 units in the first three months of 2019, a 7.3% increase from 2018 and a new record.
“It has been a record-breaking start to 2019 for the local housing market, with the first quarter topping the 600-sale mark for the first time on record,” said Parise Cormier, President of the Greater Moncton REALTORS® du Grand Moncton. “With historically strong demand and the lowest inventories in a decade, the recent moderation in price growth may prove to be only temporary.”
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price for Greater Moncton was $180,300, up 2.1% in March 2019 compared to March 2018.
The benchmark price for semi-detached homes was $181,700, up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis in March while the benchmark price for single-detached properties was $189,100, up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis.
The benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $139,800, climbing 6.1% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $175,300, jumping 12.9%.
The average sale price of Greater Moncton home sales in March 2019 was up 1.8% from March 2018. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was 2.3% higher than in the first three months of 2018.
While the use of average price information can be useful in establishing trends when applied over a period of time, i.e. six months or longer, the Greater Moncton REALTORS® du Grand Moncton cautions that an average price does not indicate the actual value of any particular property. Those requiring specific information on property values should contact a REALTOR®.
There were 412 new residential listings in March 2019, rising 3.8% (15 listings) on a year-over-year basis.
By contrast, active residential listings numbered 1,478 units at the end of March, down 20.8% from the end of March 2018 and the lowest level since 2007.
There were 6.3 months of inventory at the end of March 2019, down from the 9.1 months recorded at the end of March 2018 and below the long-run average of 8.5 months for the end of the year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
The total dollar value of all residential home sales in March 2019 was $42.2 million, rising 15.1% from the same month in 2018. This was a new record for the month of March.
Sales of all property types numbered 251 units in March 2019, an increase of 13.1% from March 2018. The total value of all properties sold was $43.6 million, rising 15.7% from March 2018.
For a full list of statistics for Moncton, New Brunswick as well as other Housing Market Stats, please visit creastats.ca.
