P.E.I.'s home real estate market moderating, but still tight

Home shoppers on P.E.I. have had more to choose from this year but the market still favours sellers, according to the latest figures from the P.E.I. Real Estate Association.

After three years of rapidly increasing prices, the average price for a home is down slightly compared to 2022, according to data for the first half of 2023, released by the association on Monday. The average sale price for the first six months of 2023 was $382,440, a drop of 3.2 per cent.

Months of inventory, often used as a measure of availability of homes to buy, is also up. Last month there was 4.4 months of inventory, as compared to 3.9 months in June of 2022. The average for June is 6.7 months.

In a news release, the association described the market as balanced but tilted in favour of sellers.

From 2005 to 2020, the benchmark price for homes on P.E.I. rose moderately. It took those 15 years for the benchmark price of a home to double, climbing from $115,800 to $230,300. But it took only another three years for prices to climb to triple their 2005 value.

By comparison, the average weekly wage on the Island was $592.92 in January of 2005 but had not even doubled by January of 2023, when it was sitting at $1,000.87. 

The benchmark price for homes peaked in July of last year at $360,300. It dropped to $344,400 in January, but has climbed again since, flirting with that peak value in the spring.

While P.E.I.'s housing price index ran behind Canada's for most of the last 20 years, it climbed above the national index in December and has stayed there since.

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