Nova Scotia and New Brunswick only provinces to see falling real estate prices in last decade


VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - October 23, 2017) - A nationwide study conducted by CENTURY 21 Canada has revealed that, in the last decade, the price-per-square-foot (PPSF) of homes in Moncton have decreased 16% ($118.18 PPSF to $99.84 PPSF) while homes in St. John's saw a price rise of 20% ($139 PPSF to $166.7 PPSF) and Charlottetown saw a rise of 14% ($154.17 PPSF to $175 PPSF).

The study gathered the PPSF for a typical home and focused on the major towns and cities across Canada, from Victoria to St. John's in 1997, 2006, and 2017. It used CENTURY 21's independently owned and operated franchised real estate offices from the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island to the Atlantic shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.

A housing market report by the Nova Scotia Association of REALTORS® showed a home sales dip in Nova Scotia for July 2017. Residential sales activity was down by 5.9% from the previous year, and the number of new listing units has fallen 5.1% from levels recorded in July 2016, making it the lowest July reading in 15 years. In the past year, the number of residential home sales also saw a decrease of 3.5%, which aligns with the data found in the CENTURY 21 survey.

"Atlantic Canada's real estate market hasn't really seen any big highs or big lows," says Brian Rushton, Executive Vice-President of CENTURY 21 Canada. "But it hasn't performed particularly well in recent years, especially when compared to other markets around the country."

The study found that, as the only cities with rising house prices in the Maritime provinces, Charlottetown ($175 PPSF) and St. John's ($166 PPSF) were the most expensive cities to purchase a home, though Vancouver Westside ($1,210 APPSF), Canada's priciest city, is still 7 times more expensive.

CENTURY 21 also conducted a survey of more than 1000 of its agents from across the nation, recording buyer's opinions, their likes dislikes and what they are looking for in a home.

The survey found that Newfoundland buyers care the most about having an ensuite bathroom (46%) than any other Canadians. When looking at home renovations, 89% of Newfoundlanders rate a new kitchen as the most valuable. The survey found that Nova Scotian buyers find the most appealing feature to be updating finishings (72%), and 22% are looking for energy efficiency. Outdated facilities are a top issue for those buying in New Brunswick (38%), which is a larger issue when comparing to other Canadian home buyers. The most important factor for PEI buyers is layout.

Complete National results, and a downloadable video interview are available at: www.century21.ca/ppsf2017

Notes to Editor:

About CENTURY 21 Canada®
CENTURY 21 Canada Limited Partnership (century21.ca) is a real estate master franchisor with complete rights to the CENTURY 21® brand in Canada.

The CENTURY 21 System is one of the world's largest and most recognized residential real estate franchise sales organization with approximately 7,450 independently owned and operated franchised real estate offices worldwide and over 115,000 sales professionals. CENTURY 21 provides comprehensive technology, marketing, training, management, and administrative support for its members in 79 countries and territories worldwide.

How the information was gathered by CENTURY 21 Canada
In the past, as seen in the data table for 1997 and 2006, CENTURY 21 Canada asked franchise owners around the country to define a 'typical' home in their area and provide the sales price and average square footage. For most, it was a single-family detached home, and the size depended on province, city, and neighbourhood. CENTURY 21 Canada released annual results in their Typical Home Price Survey.

In 2017, CENTURY 21 franchisees were asked to help come up with the average price-per-square-foot in their market. However, calculating a precise number is not an exact science as every office and province tracks statistics slightly differently. As a result, some have used either the average or benchmark prices (depending on the market) and tracked average square footage in sales from January 1- June 30, 2017. The price-per-square-foot was calculated from those numbers. Each franchisee has confirmed that that the numbers provided are an accurate representation of their market.

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Contact Information:

For more informationplease contact:
Peak Communicators
Victoria Ullrich
Phone: (604) 689-5559
Email: victoria@peakco.com

Atlantic Canada Home Price Highlights CENTURY 21 CANADA Price Per Square Foot Survey 2017 - Prairies/Atlantic