Your Home Is Probably Worth Less Than It Was at the Peak... And That Might Not Matter.

I know. Not exactly the most cheerful headline I’ve ever written!

BUT if you bought your home several years ago, or even if you simply remember what homes in your neighbourhood were selling for during the height of the market, it can be hard not to anchor to those numbers.

The reality is that in many parts of our market, home values today are well below their peak. But if you’re thinking about making a move, that number may not be nearly as important as you think.

It’s the gap that matters

Let’s say your home might have sold for $1.5 million at the peak, and today it’s worth closer to $1.35 million. It’s easy to focus on that $150,000 difference and think, “There’s no way I’m selling now.” But what if the home you want to buy was $2 million then and is $1.75 million today? Your current home has dropped $150,000, but your next home has dropped $250,000. The gap between the two has actually become $100,000 smaller.

For someone moving up, a softer market can sometimes create a better opportunity than a hot one.

The same market works on both sides

One of the most common conversations I have with homeowners is about waiting for prices to recover before selling. The problem is that if the market goes up, chances are the home you want to buy is going up too. Depending on the type of property you’re moving from and into, it may increase by considerably more in actual dollars. That’s why I encourage people who are contemplating a move to stop thinking only about, “What can I get for my house?”

The better question is:

“What will it cost me to make the move I want to make?”

Those are two very different things.

Of course, every move is different

If you’re downsizing, moving to a different community or switching from a detached home to a condo, the math changes. Different segments of the market don’t always rise and fall at exactly the same rate. Interest rates, financing, transaction costs and your personal timeline all matter too.

There is rarely a universally “good” or “bad” time to move. There’s simply the question of whether the numbers make sense for you. So if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for your home to get back to a certain value, it might be worth looking at the other half of the equation. You may be pleasantly surprised by what the gap looks like today.

If you’re curious, give me a call. I’m always happy to run the numbers with you. No pressure and no sales pitch required.