The Estrie real estate market experienced a considerable slowdown in sales in 2022, which did not prevent house prices from continuing to climb.
The meteoric rise in interest rates in 2022 means that an average house in Sherbrooke now costs $700 more per month than at the same time last year.
However, the real estate overheating of the pandemic years has given way to a decrease in sales. Despite this decline, buyers are still paying more to become owners.
In 2021 in the region, 11,841 homes were sold, compared to 9,003 last year, a decrease of 24%.
In the Sherbrooke metropolitan area, which includes Magog, Windsor and North Hatley, while single-family home sales fell 17% in 2022, to a median price of $351,000, homes sold for 15% more than in 2021.
The successive increases in interest rates have considerably reduced the purchasing power of buyers.
Mortgage broker Jean-François Langlois Hardy engaged in a calculation exercise. For a $350,000 house a year ago, at the variable rate of 1.35%, a couple had to pay monthly payments of $1,374.
A year later, for the same house at a variable rate of 5.55%, the monthly payments are $2,146, or $772 more per month.
First-time home buyers should therefore lower their expectations until prices stabilize and interest rates start to fall again.