The June numbers are in from the New Brunswick Real Estate Board, and the headline average price doesn't tell the whole story. Last month we said we'd be watching June to see if buyers came off the fence. Some of them did.
Sales came back up in June
323 homes sold across Greater Moncton in June. That's up 9.1% from May's 296, so the pickup we thought might come did show up. We were down 4.7% compared to last June. That one needs context, though. June is usually one of our busier months, and last year was a strong one, so this June just landed a touch under it. Nothing dramatic.
Here's the short version. Sales picked up, the average price ticked up, but the value of a typical home actually cooled a little. Both of those can be true in the same month, and sorting out why is really what this update is about.
Sales came back up in June
323 homes sold across Greater Moncton in June. That's up 9.1% from May's 296, so the pickup we thought might come did show up. We were down 4.7% compared to last June. That one needs context, though. June is usually one of our busier months, and last year was a strong one, so this June just landed a touch under it. Nothing dramatic.Why the average price and the "real" price disagreed
The average sale price came in at just over $396,000, up 1.8% from May. On paper, that looks like prices went up.
But the MLS Home Price Index benchmark tells a different story. The benchmark tracks the value of a typical home instead of whatever happened to sell that month, and it actually dropped 5.0%. So the average went up while a standard home lost a bit of value.
That gap is just how averages work. When a handful of higher-end homes sell in a given month, they drag the average up, even if most homes aren't worth any more than before. The benchmark takes those outliers out of the picture. Right now it's telling us the typical Moncton home cooled off slightly in June.
Detached and semi-detached told the same story
Detached homes were the clearest example. 245 of them sold, up 11.9% from May, at an average just over $407,000.
Last month we flagged the detached benchmark hitting $413,900, and we said sellers were sitting in a strong spot. This month it eased back to just over $394,000, roughly 4.8% lower. It's still up 6.5% from a year ago, so the past year's gains haven't gone anywhere. But it has come off a recent high, and next month will tell us whether that's a one-month dip or the start of something softer.
Semi-detached was the busy corner. Just 47 sales, but that's up 17.5% from May, at an average right around $396,000. That's a big number for a semi, and it's the same trick we just saw with detached. A few pricier sales pulled the average up while the benchmark for a typical semi slipped 4.4%, down to $373,600. So the average makes semis look like they're closing in on detached when they really aren't.
Townhouses and apartments stayed quiet. 16 sales between them, averaging just under $344,000.
Homes are taking a little longer to sell
Time on market was the other thing that stood out. Median days on market climbed to 36.0, up from 29.5 in May. So the typical home is taking about a week longer to sell than it was a month earlier.
Pair that with 1,466 active listings and 4.5 months of inventory, and Greater Moncton is sitting in a balanced market right now. Neither side has a clear edge.
By the way, we're Denise and Marc, a husband-and-wife real estate team here in Greater Moncton, New Brunswick with LPT Realty. Reading these numbers month to month is a big part of what we do, and it's how we help people figure out when and how to make their move.
What this means if you're buying or selling
If you're buying, this is some breathing room you didn't have back in the spring. More time to look, and a little more room to negotiate.
If you're selling, the average still looks good on the surface. But buyers are sharper now, and a lot of them are watching those benchmark numbers too. Pricing right when you list is still the thing that gets you a quick sale and the best result.
That's where things stand for June. Wondering what any of this means for your own place, or your own move? Reach out anytime. We sit down with people every week who are trying to time this exact decision here in Greater Moncton.