The survey was undertaken by Century 21 and had over 1,000 respondents
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According to a Century 21 survey of its agents, more than two-thirds of their clients are uneasy about the state of the real estate market and the effects it’s having on their respective communities.
National buyers, at least, reported being more optimistic about finding a home. According to the Century 21 survey, 57.7% of agents say their clients are either excited or calm about the homebuying process, but 28.8% expressed concern about prices or taxes.
On the seller end, 38.6% are excited or calm, and 38.7% are concerned about prices and taxes.
Nationally, 18.1% of agents reported their clients are “very concerned” about market conditions in their communities, while half (50.2%) are “somewhat concerned” and 16% reported feeling neutral. Fourteen percent are optimistic and a paltry 1.6% are “excited.”
Prairie realtors reported the worst news: Of surveyed agents, 24.2% had “very concerned” clients and 52.8% had “somewhat concerned” clients.
Atlantic Canadian Century 21 agents were the most confident, with fewer than 8% reporting “very concerned” clients and 38.2% reporting “somewhat concerned” clients.
According to Century 21’s Executive Vice President Brian Rushton, the news isn’t all bad, as some markets are “bucking the trend.”
“These results are consistent with what Canadians are hearing from other sources about how the market has been faring over the last year, with some important insights that can be drawn from real estate agents working with clients in communities across Canada,” said Rushton. “The regional differences in the data are striking, and we also heard some interesting anecdotes from agents. For example, some neighbourhoods in Ottawa and Regina are bucking the trend and are hot sellers markets, as are some suburbs of metropolitan centres like Vancouver as people are moving farther out from the core.”
Rushton, furthermore, added that the results show there’s widespread confidence in real estate as a sound investment.
“For me, the survey highlights that real estate is always a good investment when you are buying a home to live in for the long term and if you are willing to be flexible. Markets are soft in many communities right now, but we’ve seen that before and it is certainly not consistent across the country.”
Over 1,000 Century 21 agents participated in the survey from across the country.
