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By Chris Brown

City real estate market ‘fairly isolated’ from national ups and downs: board president

Mar 29, 2022 | 4:30 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat has so far escaped being caught up in the red-hot housing market seen elsewhere in the country. The president of the Medicine Hat Real Estate Board says that should continue as the national market begins to cool.

The Bank of Canada hiked its interest rate in March for the first time in more than three years, moving it from a record-low of 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Analysts predict rates will increase in a series of half-percentage point increments possibly beginning as early as next month.

“The idea there is the government is stepping in to kind of curb the inflation of the housing market across the country,” explains Justin Taupert. “So that is something for buyers to be aware of. Sellers have some questions there as well regarding what’s that going to do to our market. With Medicine Hat though we’ve been fairly isolated before and mortgage changes really haven’t affected us in our market.”

Taupert says there are crazy statistics about the rapid increase in the price of houses in major centres like Toronto and Vancouver. Prices in those centres have risen as much as 50 per cent.

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“We’re seeing maybe increases of five, maybe upwards to 10 per cent,” he says.

He adds the average price for a detached single-family home in the city is about 320,000. Averages are close to $800,000 elsewhere.

“So that is one of the benefits of Medicine Hat. We’re seeing more and more people from out of province wanting to come to our great city because, A, the city is so fantastic and beautiful and, B, the cost of living’s that much less than other markets.”

Taupert adds its a sellers’ market here these days, a shift from about a 18 months ago when the market favoured those looking to buy.