Real Estate Market insights for October in Nova Scotia
Hello, Nova Scotians and real estate enthusiasts! It’s Dawn Magee, your friendly neighborhood REALTOR®, bringing you the latest insights from the Nova Scotia real estate market.
I love stats and data so if you are wondering “What are home prices doing in Nova Scotia?” or “Where can I find the cheapest homes in Nova Scotia? You’ve come to the right place.
Quick Snapshot: October 2024 Market Trends
The Nova Scotia real estate market is following its seasonal rhythm, with home prices and sales behaving just as anticipated. Here’s a quick summary:
– Rural areas: Home prices are climbing due to limited supply in popular price ranges.
– Home sales: Increasing, thanks to end-of-season price reductions.
– Overpriced listings: Stacking up as sellers let their properties expire for the winter.
Oh, and let’s not forget that early Christmas gift—a 50-basis-point rate cut by the Bank of Canada, leading to lower variable mortgage rates. Will this trend continue? Stay tuned for December’s rate announcement.
New Listings: A Mixed Bag Across Nova Scotia
October saw 1,150 new listings, a slight increase (1.8%) from last year but a notable drop from the spring peak of 1,772 in May.
– Annapolis Valley: Leading with an 8.6% increase in new listings, possibly fueled by military postings at 14 Wing Greenwood and new builds in Hants County.
– Yarmouth Region: Experienced the sharpest decline, with 22% fewer listings than last October.
Sales Surge: Buyers Capitalize on Adjusted Prices
October sales saw a boost across most regions as buyers seized opportunities. Here’s how the numbers stack up:
– Halifax-Dartmouth: 440 homes sold, up by 58 from September.
– Annapolis Valley: The star performer with 157 homes sold—61 more than last October.
-88 homes were sold in the South Shore region, which was up from September and up from 60 sold in 2023.
-Northern region had 129 homes sold up from 122 in Sept and up 35 from last year.
–Highland region saw 38 listings sold in October which is up 3 from last year but down 1 from Sept.
–Cape Breton had 76 homes sold which is up 6 from Sept.
– Yarmouth: 29 homes sold, almost double the previous month.
In total, 957 homes sold across Nova Scotia in October. Interestingly, this aligns closely with pre-pandemic 2019 levels, suggesting we’re settling back into a “new normal.”
Months Supply and Market Trends
With less new listings coming to market in October but active listings also decreasing, this lead to a similar numbers from September to October for months of supply.
Halifax Dartmouth is still in a sellers market at 2.6 months worth of supply.
Cape Breton is also in a sellers market at 3.2 months.
Northern region and Annapolis Valley are moving into a balanced market with 4.7 and 4.9 months worth.
The highland region well into a buyers market at 10.2 months supply of inventory.
Days on market has increased across all the regions as well, which shows the remaining inventory may well be overpriced
Overall median Days on market for Nova Scotia is 20.
Annapolis Valley homes are taking 48 days on market.
South shore and the highland region are both taking 54 days.
Yarmouth and the northern region are taking 36 days.
Halifax-Dartmouth: Median DOM is 11 days,and
Cape breton is slightly behind at 16 days on market.
Home Prices: A Region-by-Region Breakdown
So, what are home prices in Nova Scotia looking like?
These median calulations include condos, detached homes, and duplexes:
Here’s the latest data:
- Cape Breton: $230,000 – A continued decline from last month and a decline of -4.3 % from last year.
- Yarmouth: $255,000 – Down from last month, but up 17.8% year-over-year.
- Highland Region: $249,500 – Which was $40,000 decrease from Sept. and up 4% from 2023.
- Northern Region: came in at $300,000 – which is down $4,000 from Sept. and up 13.2 % from last year.
- South Shore and the Annapolis Valley were the only two regions that saw month over month increases. The south shore broke an all time record past month with $402,500 . This is an increase of 25.8% from Oct 2023.
- Annapolis Valley Also beat the covid peak sale price from Spring 2022 coming in at $382,000 for median homes sale price for October. Average home sale numbers are which are higher in general during the covid peaks as there was a lot of bidding wars. This median price was up 11.5% from October 2023. Which is a greater year over year increase of app.6% then we would see in a normal market.
- Halifax-Dartmouth: home median prices came in at $534,700; Down just $4,300 from last month but still up %5.8 compared to Oct. 2023.
New Construction: The Housing Supply Solution?
There were 79 buildings, less than a year old, that sold in October across NS. With the biggest increase in the Annapolis Valley of 4 to 19 month over month.
The median sold price of the 49 new homes sold in Halifax Dartmouth was $706,900, and the busiest areas were St. Margarets Timberlea with 8, Kingswood Hammonds Plains with 6, and Sackville Beaverbank with 5.
Annapolis Valley had 19 new homes sold with a median sold price of $450,000. Keep in mind 7 were semi detached homes, sold mostly around Falmouth and Avonport, and those have influenced that median price.
Currently, there are total of 509 active new construction listed across NS;
290 in Halifax Dartmouth, with Elmsdale being popular because of the smaller units available, while more executive style homes are prevalent in the Middle Sackville area, which has about 46 new builds currently for sale.The median list price here is $738,400.
There are 86 new homes listed in Annapolis Valley, again finding a lot of semidetached units for sale around Falmouth Avon port and a new development in Three mile plains, The median list price here for semi detached is $479,900 and a detached home is about $100,000 more.
On the South Shore, there are 49 new construction homes available.
63 in the Northern Region, which have the smaller footprints and a median list price coming in at $454,250.
12 to choose from in the Highland Region, mainly Dundee and east Lake Ainslee areas.
5 new builds are currently listed in Cape Breton and 4 in Yarmouth.
Final Thoughts
We could be in for a roller coaster ride with the newly elected government to the south. Economists are anticipating bond yields to increase, which will increase our fixed mortgage rates.
Changes to tariffs and trade deals will impact our inflation. And with the new government expected to loosen regulations on AI tech and energy, it leaves me concerned about what that will spell for not just Canada but the world.
Now with our own election on the horizon both provincially and federally I really do hope we stick to the facts and focus on problem solving. We need productivity not propaganda; Constructive communication not inciteful rhetoric. Remember we welcoming, inclusive and really really polite. We are Canadian
This has been the real deal with Dawn.
