If there is one industry making a big COVID-19 rebound locally, it’s the real estate sector.
Cathy Maxwell with the Lethbridge and District Association of Realtors (LDAR) says they’ve been seeing record home sales over the past three to four months. She notes in September, sales were an amazing 61% higher across the Lethbridge board region, compared with the same month in 2019 and when it comes to year-over-year numbers (Jan.-Sept.) sales are up roughly 9% overall.
“Those are fantastic numbers,” says Maxwell. “At the beginning of the year we were logging around 8, 9, 10 months of inventory. We’re down right now to three-and-a-half months of inventory. It’s a balanced market right now, but heading toward a sellers market (locally) for sure.”
Maxwell says it remains to be seen whether this red hot housing market can sustain itself this fall, but for the time being it’s very busy even with the pandemic still very much with us.
“As COVID progresses you wonder if there will be any more lockdowns. We hope not. But it doesn’t seem to be affecting the real estate market. There are other factors (as to why sales are strong). Interest rates on bank loans are so low. It’s a great time to buy real estate or upgrade, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen (in the months ahead),” stated Maxwell.
The average price for a home in the Lethbridge area has gone up to around $306,000.
