‘Holding steady:’ Real estate in a bit of a lull, says home builders’ association

Tariffs are causing the housing market to drop, as the number of listings is up and number of sales is down. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco explains.

With interest rates dropping, there was a lot of optimism heading into the spring real estate market.

“We were thinking that coming into the spring with interest rates doing what they have been, things were going to be ramping right back up again,” said Brent Klundert, chair of the Windsor Essex Home Builders’ Association, who feels the market is tricky. “I wouldn’t trust my crystal ball for any predictions.”

The tariff war and political landscape have changed the course of the market.

“Are more tariffs coming? Are they not? Will people have jobs and be working? So, until they know and they’re more comfortable, they’re kind of just holding steady,” said Dan Gemus of the Dan Gemus Real Estate Team.

The uncertainty caused housing prices and demand to plummet across Canada. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, home sales in March fell 9.3 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Locally, the number of listings increased while the number of homes sold dropped 22 per cent.

A broker of record, Gemus said homes at the right price point are moving but some are taking longer to sell. Also, multiple offers are still happening.

“However, that’s for the most part in the lower price points. So, under five, under $600,000. Those that are over that price point, they are still selling. It’s just taking longer. We’re heading back to the pre-peak market, the pre-COVID market where houses were on the market for months at a time,” he said.

People living at an Amherstburg home listed Tuesday are anticipating multiple offers.

“Yes. I’m pretty sure there’ll be a lot of people just the way it was, the people stopping and writing the phone number and address down,” said Terry Castanier.

The sale of homes over a million dollars were in the teens before hitting 32 homes last month. That’s welcomed news for the Varneys, who are selling their waterfront home on Dalhousie Street.

“It takes a special person to want to be on this particular property because of what’s featured here, which is the wheelhouse, the big boatlift, the moat going around the island, because it is a little island,” said Gail Varney, who is content to wait and look forward to moving to a place with less maintenance.

The Varneys should have options with listings up 21 per cent in March.

“At a time when we have such a housing shortage. A lot of builders, residential developers are left with a lot of inventory sitting there,” noted Klundert, who said builders aren’t necessarily in panic mode. “Builders that have been in the game for a while know that you have to ride out these times and hopefully when data becomes a little bit more certainty in the market, people will return and be ready to make that bigger purchase.”