PEI Real Estate Stats- October

What a great Halloween! It was a perfect night for trick or treating with very mild temperatures and no rain. This was my 2 year old daughter’s first night out trick or treating and she had a great time visiting a few of the neighbour's houses.

October was a good month for PEI real estate. Residential inventory for October is at its lowest level in the last 4 years (1506 listings), and average prices are at their highest level ($155,028). Sales came in at a healthy 150, and while this is lower than the banner year of 2007, it's 11% higher than October 08.

Many western cities like Calgary and Vancouver have seen a tremendous jump in sales activity over the last many months. Interest rates were slashed and the result was a surge in property sales and a return to multiple offer situations (rather than the huge price drops of 2008). While PEI has not experienced a similar market bounce, the Island has not had to endure the extreme market volatility. PEI continues to provide a stable environment to invest in real estate.


Sales:




Listings:




Prices:



Thanks for reading,

Paul


The statistics on this website are based on information from CREA, and while believed to be accurate, CREA assumes no responsibility for them.

PEI Real Estate Stats- September

For September sales are up MOM(month over month), inventory is down and prices are sitting at highs not seen in the last 4 years.

Last month’s steep dip in sales appears to be an anomaly rather than a sign of things to come. Sales increased 18% MOM. Although There was a strong rebound from last month, sales for September are lower than the last few years and for a strong real estate market we need higher sales numbers.

2008 was clearly a weak year when we observe the swell in inventory that began in April 08. If there is an oversupply of homes on the market prices will moderate as buyers have more selection and feel less urgency. Currently inventory is at roughly the same level as 2005-2007, all very strong years for PEI real estate.

Prices are very strong when compared with the last 3 Septembers. The average price came in at 142k vs. 129k in 2008 (10% increase . This is very good news for Island home owners and a testament to the overall stability of the PEI housing market.

Lots of positive financial news is making headlines lately. Today the IMF predicted that Canada will lead the G7 nations out of recession. As the economy stabilises and wealth returns to those who we're hurt in the stock market, real estate will strengthen further.

Have a great Thanksgiving and a happy Halloween!



Here are the charts:


Sales



Listings



Prices




The statistics on this website are based on information from CREA, and while believed to be accurate, CREA assumes no responsibility for them.

7 tips for saving money heating your home

A few days back we had home inspector and energy efficiency auditor Rod MacKinnon swing by our office for a presentation on increasing your homes efficiency. The discussion was very informative and also timely with the much cooler weather. Rod is very knowledgeable and reviewed the PEI Office of Energy Efficiency materials and offered his own insights.

Here are 7 do-it-yourself tips to greater home efficiency from the PEI Office of Energy Efficiency:

1)Keep your heating system well maintained. Also change or clean furnace filters every couple of months. Save up to $350/yr.

2)Seal'em up! In most homes, air leaks are the single most significant source of heat loss...seal leaks with caulking and weather-stripping on windows and doors and with gaskets on light switches and plugs. Save up to $875/yr.

3)Program your thermostat. Automatically set the temperature to be lower at night and when your away. Save up to $350/yr.

4)Let the light shine in. And keep the dark out...curtains and blinds should be open during the day to allow passive solar energy to warm your home. When it's dark, close curtains to keep the heat in. Save up to $175/yr.

5)Keep warm air ducts and hot water pipes warm. Insulate and seal warm air ducts to stop air leakage. Save up to $875/yr.

6)Storm windows. Add an extra layer of protection and reduce drafts with storm windows. This is particularly important in older homes without modern windows. Save up to $875/yr.

7)Doors. Replace exterior doors that are in poor condition with insulated core doors or add storm doors. Save up to $175/yr.

*Savings based on an annual consumption of $3500L of home heating fuel at 1$/L.



The Office of Energy Efficiency also offers programs that help residents reduce energy consumption and offers financial assistance for those taking steps to improve the efficiency of their homes.

These programs provide:

-Financial assistance of 50-100% of the cost of an energy audit. A typical audit will cost $100-$200 after the subsidy. This audit will reveal the best ways to improve your homes energy efficiency.

-Low interest loans up to $10,000 for energy saving home improvements. Low-income households are eligible to have up to 50% of the loan forgiven. Or...

-Grants up to $1500 with additional financial aid for high efficiency oil-fired heating systems.

-If your household income is under $30,000 you may be eligible for the low-income program.


Good luck and hope this helps save you some money in the cooler weather.

PEI Real Estate Stats- August

With summer winding up the PEI real estate market took a bit of a breather this month. While listings flat lined and prices continued to be strong, sales dipped. They came in at 135 sales which is considerably lower than the last 3 years. Prices remain strong and are at their highest level for August in the last 4 years. Let's see if the typically strong fall market breathes some life back into the sales numbers.

The economic news lately has been looking much better than last year. Many are claiming that the worst of the recession is behind us if not over completely. Canadian GDP grew from May-June for the first time in 11 months. This is only good news for our local real estate market.



Listings: Steady level of inventory



Sales: Weak sales numbers for August



Prices: Prices are strong




Let's see what Fall holds!

Thanks for reading,

Paul


The statistics on this website are based on information from CREA, and while believed to be accurate, CREA assumes no responsibility for them.

PEI Real Estate Stats- July

Finally the summer weather is starting to heat up and the real estate market is still going strong. Listings seem to have plateaued at a lower level than the previous 4 years while sales continue to move upward. If this trend continues there will be further upward pressure on prices. Prices have posted their highest number in July for the last 4 years.

Another positive for PEI is that a report released at the end of July stated that the Maritime Provinces have dodged the worst recession since the Second World War. I am sure even though the province avoided an all out recession many of us felt it. The good news is now we can look towards an economic recovery which should translate to increased home values and at the very least stability. It looks like a great time to buy PEI real estate.

On a personal note Sandra, Paige and I just welcomed a new addition to our family. We had a baby boy on July 15th who we named Karsten! We are very excited and very busy :)

Here are the charts:


Listings: Low and steady level of inventory




Sales: Weaker than the banner year 2007 but still strong




Prices: Healthy average price growth



So far so good for PEI real estate in 2009. Let's see what the rest of the summer holds.

Thanks for reading,

Paul


The statistics on this website are based on information from CREA, and while believed to be accurate, CREA assumes no responsibility for them.

A guide to PEI beaches with a local perspective!

Cavendish Beach

PEI has red sand beaches, white sand beaches, and even a beach with singing sands .

I have poked around at a couple beautiful beaches not too far from home. Cavendish, Blooming Point and Brackley are really spectacular beaches with miles and miles of surf and fine sand.

A bunch of local friends from PEI Talk have offered a local perspective on some of the Best Beaches in PEI. After looking at this comprehensive map it was nice to narrow the focus a little bit. :)

Here’s what everyone had to say:

Jfall:

“I've always enjoyed Kinlock beach (just a few minutes from the bridge, in Stratford). It's a great place to take kids, when the tide is out there are sandbars with shallow water between that kids can play in (or you can go further out for deeper water). There's very little shells/rocks/seaweed but there always seems to be something cool to look at in the water. It's free, and there is never too many people there.

Panmure Island is also beautiful, but it's pretty far from town.”


Peiblogs:

“Basin Head ("singing sands") is the best, but it's a long trip from Charlottetown (east of Souris), and the water can be colder than elsewhere. If the weather is iffy, call the Fisheries Museum to confirm nice whether before heading out.

Chelton is the best south-side beach, but it's not that close, either. Tea Hill Park in Stratford is great at low tide if you have kids - lots of sand to play on (similar to the nearby Kinlock beach, but with facilities).
Blooming Point/Point Deroche is a wonderful north-shore beach, but is unsupervised and unfacilitied, so it is not for everyone.

In the Park, Brackley is "Charlottetown's beach", but check out nearby Ross's Lane for a nice beach that can be less crowded. Also check out the beach at Tracadie Harbour, just east of Dalvay on Route 6 - this is where the 20-somethings with Sea Doos hang out (or at least they did last time I visited).

The Morell/St. Peters area is about 45 minutes out, and includes the fantastic St. Peters Harbour and Lakeside beaches. They are in cottage subdivisions, but there is public access, and the beaches are incredible. The Greenwich National Park is also there, and has some incredible dunes. Also check out the beaches in the Malpeque area, including Cabot Park and Twin Shores (there is public access to the left of the campground), about 40 minutes out.”


Basin Head Beach. Image from: www.basinhead.com

Yesitsme:

“Best beach on the Island is at Panmure. Basin Head is also great. Not near the crowds as at the touristy beaches. Everytime I have been at Lakeside it has been abandoned, and it too is great.”


Creed:

“Was out at Brackley yesterday. Amazing in MY eyes. I do not mind crowds, expect it at Brackley, so the people didn't bother me. Went to Panmure last Summer. Didn't care for it at all. To each there own.”


CSI Atlantica

“Basin Head in Souris - bar none. ”


TTboy

“Yep basin head... and it’s only a little over an hour from Chtown. .. so it’s not way out there as was commented earlier. . also before basin head is little harbour beach a lot less people and has a small natural run that lil kids can play in. and if you go to the store just a bit past basin head, you used to be able to go down the dirt road right by the store to the shore. it’s the same beach as basin head just down the road a few miles.”



Greenwich Beach- Really beautiful

Singlecougar:

“Cousin Shores ... absolutely beautiful. Nothing but beach ... anytime I have gone, the tide was so far out you couldn't walk out far enough to swim ...”


Oceanbrae:

“My favourite beach is definitely Thunder Cove in Darnley. A little hard to get down the cliff, but has a great sandy beach and get deep quick...which I love. I don't like to puddle around in shallow water, I like to plunge in and swim!

I'm also quite fond of West Cape Prov. Park....again, gets deep quick, and often has the best waves on the south shore. Pretty warm too. Worth the drive up west!”


It seems Basin head comes out as a top choice for many PEI locals. It sounds like a spectacular beach and I better find my way out there soon!

Thanks for your help all and let’s do dining and golfing next!

Paul

Making the move

This post is to answer and expand on this question from Jordan:

“Paul, I always appreciated your daily stats for Greater Vancouver and the honest approach you presented towards real estate. If you have time would write a post about moving your family across the country?

We've been waiting for prices to become reasonable here for a while but this spring bounce is making us feel pessimistic that we will have to wait too long or sacrifice too much. Transferring to an affordable location seems like a good solution, but also terrifying. How hard is it to leave family and friends behind?”



Logistically the move was easy enough. We found a local mover in Halifax that was far less expensive than local Vancouver movers. Everything went very smoothly. They even rolled our car into the huge truck which saved us about 1k instead of going via rail. The total costs were about 6k which is not bad considering the distance.

We do have family and friends that we miss but there comes a point when you have to do what’s best for your immediate family. My wife Sandra and I decided that slaving away in Vancouver to buy a hovel of a house for 700k with the demands of a young and growing family was unjustifiable. We don’t want to be away from our kids full-time and in PEI we can better coordinate our work and family life while avoiding unnecessary stress. With email, texting, Skype etc. we are constantly in touch with loved ones, and when they /we visit you get a good dose of quality time.

There was really nowhere else in Canada that we would consider. PEI is beautiful and Charlottetown has everything we need. There isn’t really any skiing on island but Vermont/Maine etc. have a few amazing resorts and are not too far away.

We rented a home before buying to make sure we wouldn’t wig out and want to move back. The wig out hasn’t happened and we just recently bought our first house. Finally after bouncing from condo to condo feeling disheartened by the high Vancouver housing prices, I have my own grass to mow, and no strata to deal with!

Another nice thing about PEI is people actually want to visit you. It’s not just a duty visit. The summer months are really amazing. Plenty of outdoor and family activities and a really great restaurant scene also which is a plus.

I will talk more about what PEI has to offer in other posts but bottom line for us is this was a brilliant move. Our family is growing and we will be able to better balance work with family life. The natural beauty of PEI is second to none and the affordability allows less financial strain and more opportunities for vacations in the cold winters!