In an interesting post in the Winnipeg Free Press, writer Murray McNeill says that, according to a Toronto-Dominion Canada Trust report, homebuyers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the pickiest in the country.
The report sponsored a survey of first-time homebuyers in Canada, and this was one fact that came out of it. The report specifically mentioned that, on average, buyers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan view at least 15 homes before buying something. Twenty percent of them look at more than 25. (That’s a lot of houses to look at!)
Winnipeg REALTORs president Claude Davis says this may be in part because there are more homes on the market. His reasoning is, if there are more homes on the market than there were a year ago, people will look at more. That is unassailable logic. Also, he says that people in the two provinces spend a lot of time in their first home on average, saying that 55% of people there plan to spend 10 years or more in their home or never plan to sell.
Davis says also that Winnipeg shoppers are a conservative bunch and that they like to do their homework before making a big ticket purchase. He also allows that, despite the rising prices, houses in the prairies are more affordable than in other Canadian cities.
The last point may tell us more about the nation’s different regional housing markets than it does about how cautious individual consumers are. The affordability of houses in Winnipeg and Saskatchewan makes buyers more picky simply because they are able to be. No running around signing contracts on the hoods of cars here, no going-like-hotcakes condo pre-construction sales a la Vancouver and Toronto. Nearly three-quarters of buyers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan want a detached home versus a condo or even a semi-detached. This is compared to 50% nationally.
The rest of Canada should be so lucky.
The report also said that, in spite of the ability to be quite picky, that consumers here are more pragmatic: 45% of them expect to pay list price or more to get the features they want, versus 35% nationally.
The article cites a mortgage specialist with TD who says to be realistic about what you can afford as a down payment and what that looks like in terms of both your home as well as your mortgage payments over time. Only 30% of first-time buyers in the region have more than a 20% down payment. The survey confirms that first-time buyers all over Canada tend to do their homework on mortgage options, but that most felt unprepared for closing costs, land transfer tax and legal fees. Speaking to a qualified mortgage broker should help alleviate these fears as he or she can help you decipher the fine print and point out particular areas that need to be addressed.
