By Chantal Wagner

interest rate below 2%

Medicine Hat’s real estate market holds steady in 2020

Jan 19, 2021 | 3:03 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Home buyers have been taking advantage of low interest rates over the last year.

President of the Medicine Hat Real Estate Board Frank Devine says the interest rate is 1.6 percent right now, and that’s making a huge difference for buyers.

It’s also one of the drivers for Medicine Hat’s real estate market to hold steady in 2020.

Devine is seeing more people buy houses because it’s cheaper than paying rent for that same house.

But as far as sales go, it’s very close to the city’s standard and is comparable to the 10-year average.

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House prices have even gone up a little bit. Devine says the 6 percent increase is due to the cost of the new and bigger houses being built.

Meantime, the average residential home price is almost $300,000 for homes in Crescent Heights, Crestwood, and Ross Glen.

Relatively speaking, Devine says our city has been fairly stable during COVID-19 in the housing market and it hasn’t changed a whole lot.

“I think overall, people that have money still have money. COVID doesn’t affect those people too much. Working people, obviously the interest rate makes a big difference. For young people buying their first homes, interest rates make a big difference. I think due to the diversity of Medicine Hat and the economy here I think that’s why there are so many people buying and getting into starter homes.”

Devine expects 2021 to be a busy year for Medicine Hat in the real estate market

“I think the biggest factor is going to be probably people wanting to get out of cities and to a city of our size that has a lot to offer and has room to basically spread out and people aren’t so congested. I think it will be a very good thing for the city a size of Medicine Hat.”

For the December 2020 market trend summary from the Alberta Real Estate Association visit this link.

And as far as real estate goes, Devine says Medicine Hat is probably one of the most stable places in the country.

“Due to the diversity of the city. Obviously, the oil patch has an effect on us, but the size of the city is very good, farming and ranching community, manufacturing community, we have a lot of different things going for us in this area, so it works really good for the real estate market and keeps it very stable.”