Home sales in Lethbridge down slightly this year
LETHBRIDGE — The CEO of the Lethbridge and District Association of Realtors is confident the year will come out ahead.
But in the first half of 2017 the number of homes sold is down 3.58 per cent, from 1,398 to 1,348, a decrease Cathy Maxwell considers marginal. The total value of homes sold was $373 million, down 4.1 per cent from $389 million in 2016.
Maxwell said the economy is part of the reason, but another factor is new mortgage rules that took effect last October, which she feels are doing what they were intended to do.
“The overall delinquency rates, according to CMHC, have (been) reduced,” she said. “But what we see, then, is it’s a little bit trickier for vendors and the Realtors to do the sales, because the people who are approved to buy, at a certain level, they now have to decide, do we wait and save more money so we can be approved higher, or do we lower our wants and our needs and buy lower?”