Saint John Sees Record-Breaking Home Sales In 2020

Greater Saint John’s red-hot real estate market broke a number of records in 2020, and there is no sign of slowing down.

A total of 2,583 homes were sold in the past 12 months, an increase of 12.7 per cent over the same period in 2019.

It was also the first time the region surpassed 2,500 sales in one year, according to the Saint John Real Estate Board.

“I don’t think we expected to see the year we had,” Corey Breau, president of the board, said in a recent interview.

Breau said they predicted a strong market heading into 2020, but when the pandemic started to take shape around March or April, they did not expect the market to continue to be strong.

“We kind of thought it would take a nosedive,” he said. “It turned around, I’d say early spring, and we had probably one of the strongest real estate markets Saint John has ever seen.”

With homes selling like hotcakes throughout the year and fewer new properties coming onto the market, inventory levels continued to drop throughout the year.

By the end of December, inventory levels fell to a 15-year low with 567 active residential listings on the market – a drop of 42.9 per cent year-over-year.

“They’re selling as fast as they’re coming on the market. December, we actually did see 139 new listings, which was up 47 per cent over December last year, so we are seeing listings come to market, we’re just seeing them sell just as fast.”

Months of inventory — the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity — numbered three at the end of December, well below the long-run average of 15 months for this time of year.

Breau said the low inventory levels pushed home sale prices up to an average of $197,688 in 2020, which is a bit higher than they anticipated.

“Back in the start of the year, I think we were expecting a four our five per cent increase,” he said. “To see a 7.7 per cent increase is a little surprising, especially with the year we’ve had, but the prices in New Brunswick are still very affordable.”

Breau said he expects the trend of low inventory levels and rising home prices to continue in 2021, but not at the same pace as in 2020.

At this point, he said it is too early to tell when we might see the trend begin to stabilize.

“We have to take it month-by-month, especially with what’s going on in the world. Everybody is kind of on edge and you never know what’s going to happen in the coming month.”

The Saint John Real Estate Board covers the southern part of New Brunswick to the U.S. border in St. Stephen and includes the counties of Saint John, Kings, Charlotte and portions of Queens.