An endless cycle: Downsizing becoming impossible for some Maritime seniors

It’s not an easy time for anyone looking to downsize their home, including seniors and retirees in the Maritimes.

“It’s really difficult to find someplace to go,” says Bill Van Gorder of the Canadian Association for Retired Persons.

Seniors say they’re unable to downsize because of the lack of affordable rental properties.

“Some years ago, they felt that if they sold their house they would be able to afford reasonable rent or a condo, well that’s just not true for them anymore,” VanGorder says.

“The whole real estate market in a city like Halifax is a big circle,” adds the president of Royal LePage Atlantic, Matt Honsberger.

The endless cycle means if people aren’t moving out of their homes and into smaller living quarters, like bungalows or condos or apartments, young and growing families are having a hard finding a place to buy.

“The lack of rental availability is really choking both ends of that circle, and that has slowed a lot of the cycle down at this point,” says Honsberger.

“It’s a very simple formula. There’s more people looking for houses than there are available houses. That means the prices aren’t going to come down, even with the pressure on interest rates and that inflation continues to put on.”

The same is true in New Brunswick.

“Currently, we have 232 houses in Greater Moncton actively listed,” says Moncton real estate agent, Danielle Johnson.

She says inventory has been low since the pandemic.

“The people that are having the hardest time is anyone between $250,000 and 350,000, I would say that is the hot price point,” Johnson says.

Construction cranes are building a number of properties in Halifax, but with the population approaching half-a-million people, the competition for a home is also going up.

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