Market Review: April 2022

April is in the books and although we finally saw some signs of life on the supply side, with 50 new listings coming to market, demand remains very high and those listings aren’t lasting very long – only 21 days on average.  By month end we had only 24 homes remaining on the market, which is even lower than last year (by 37%).

To put our current month-end inventory levels in perspective, two years ago in April 2020 there were 83 listings on the market.  2019 was similarly balanced, with supply peaking in September of 2019 at 143 listings on the market at month’s end.

It’s fair to say that we will not get back to those high inventory levels this year.  Traditionally our market starts slowing down at the end of June when school is done and folks turn their attention to re-connecting with relatives in the South, spending time at the cabin, camping, etc.  So we really only have about six weeks of peak “new listings” volume left.  And so far, May is looking slower than usual, with only 15 new listings as of this morning.  So if you are a buyer, make sure you are working with a buyer’s agent so that you can find out about new listings right away.  Waiting for them to appear on brokerage’s websites can sometimes be too late.

We actually fielded quite a few questions about this at least weekend’s YK Chamber of Commerce Spring Trade Show, which was spectacularly well attended, by the way.  Some people were frustrated that when listings appear on our website, they can sometimes already be “Sale Pending”, or in some cases “Sold”.   The reason for this is that members of the NWT Association of Realtors are obligated to make other members aware of new listings pretty much right away once listing contracts are signed.  And ideally contracts should be signed before photos can be taken, for liability purposes.  So members of the NWTAR generally have an idea of what’s coming to market before the general public does.  Sometimes vendors instruct members of the NWTAR not to market the property until it appears on the website, but sometimes they instruct us to market the homes immediately.  And we of course have to follow those instructions.  That’s how we end up with homes being shown to potential buyers, and potentially accepting offers, before listings appear on websites.  If you’re a potential buyer, the only solution is to make sure you are working with a buyer’s agent well in advance of seeing the home of your dreams appear on one of the local brokerage’s websites.  Our brokerage pioneered buyer agency in the Northwest Territories back in 2012, and we’re very good at it, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to a member of our team!