It’s interesting what’s happened with Red Deer home prices monthly through the COVID-19 pandemic. When the public health measures took place on March 12th, 2020 there was a lot of pessimism but look what’s happened?
Nobody knew what to expect when we realized the economy would be hit hard from the pandemic’s impact. With people out of work and businesses forced to face much lower sales, the outlook was bleak.
The question in everyone’s mind was, how will people be able to purchase homes with everyone earning less.
Home sales did take a hard hit due to uncertainty but surprisingly enough they rebounded quick. Sales slowed substantially and the average sale price dropped in April/May but recovery started as early as late May.
It was uncertain whether the bounce-back was due to activity that would have otherwise happened earlier or the low-interest rates. Not knowing what would happen economically both locally and internationally everyone assumed real estate activity would freeze.
Why didn’t real estate activity freeze and why are Red Deer home prices up?
There are a few reasons.
The economy didn’t slow as much as everyone expected. More people were able to continue working than expected. Interest rates were super attractive and real estate became a very attractive investment compared to other investments. These are the reasons we’ve watched our local market and other markets rebound after only a short lull.
The image above details the trip our local average home sale price has taken each month in the Red Deer real estate market. It details the dip in April/May and shows how our average sale price in June/July 2020 not only recovered but outperformed June/July 2019.