Buying
Questions buyers actually ask
The figures update themselves as new months land, so an answer here is never six months stale. Where the honest answer is it depends, it says so and then says what it depends on.
Is now a good time to buy a house in New Brunswick?
That depends on your own numbers far more than on the market's. What we can tell you is what the market is doing: at this pace, tilted toward sellers, and the index that prices the same house every month has it +49.3% over five years. Anyone who answers this question without asking what you earn, what you owe and how long you plan to stay is selling you something.
What the market is actually doing →What does it cost to buy a house besides the down payment?
More than most people budget for. New Brunswick charges a land transfer tax of one per cent of the greater of the purchase price or the assessed value, and that is due on closing day. Then legal fees, a home inspection, title insurance and the adjustments for whatever the seller prepaid. Our closing cost estimator runs the real arithmetic on your price rather than quoting a rule of thumb.
Estimate your closing costs →How much income do I need to buy a house here?
For the median home at current posted rates, roughly what the market page works out, where every assumption behind the figure is named beside it. Lenders qualify you at a stress-test rate rather than the rate you will actually pay, which is why the income needed is higher than the payment suggests. It is arithmetic, not advice about what you should borrow.
The numbers behind it →What is the housing market like in Quispamsis and Rothesay?
Different from the city, and different from each other. The valley towns carry their own price levels and their own pace, which is why our market page breaks the figures out by community rather than publishing one regional number. The community guides cover what it is actually like to live in each of them.
The community guides →How many houses are for sale in Greater Saint John right now?
There are 376 homes on the market, with a middle asking price of $424,950. Those are asking prices on homes currently listed rather than sold prices, and the count covers the towns this team works most rather than the whole board region, which is wider.
See the current read →Do I pay my REALTOR® when I buy a house?
Usually the seller's side pays, out of the proceeds at closing, and that has been the normal arrangement here for a long time. What has changed is that it is negotiated openly rather than assumed. Your representation agreement sets out what the brokerage is paid and who pays it, and if the seller's side offers less than that, the difference is yours. Read that part before you sign, and ask us to walk you through it.
What is the difference between waterfront and a water view?
About a road, and often a great deal of money. Waterfront means the property meets the water; a view means you can see it from the property. Listings distinguish the two and so do we, in separate sections, because merging them advertises frontage and delivers a house across the road from it. That is a discovery best avoided on the day you drive out.
Figures come from the New Brunswick Real Estate Board's monthly report, CREA's price index, Service New Brunswick assessment data and this site's own listing feed. Nothing here is tax or legal advice. The Ellis Team at REAL Brokerage. All questions →