{"id":8712,"date":"2016-12-08T13:02:29","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T18:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?p=8712"},"modified":"2016-12-08T13:12:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T18:12:10","slug":"should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to buying a home, the perceived wisdom is that there are deals to be had in the winter months. Spring and summer tend to be when people hunt for real estate<\/a>, especially in a country like Canada where sub-zero temperatures can last for months at a time. So when there\u2019s snow on the ground – and many house hunters decide\u00a0to hibernate instead – prices often trend downwards. But is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter?<\/p>\n

Related Read: No Holiday Real Estate Slowdown Expected for 2016<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cold-Weather Sales Especially Active<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s normally the case, although 2016 hasn\u2019t exactly followed the usual script when it comes to real estate, particularly in the GTA. Such was the case last month, when Toronto Real Estate Board President Larry Cerqua announced that GTA REALTORS\u00ae reported<\/a> 8,547 home sales in November. This represented a 16.5% increase on November 2015, and continues a trend for record breaking sales throughout 2016 as a whole.<\/p>\n

“Home buying activity remained strong across all market segments in November,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, many would-be home buyers continued to be frustrated by the lack of listings, as annual sales growth once again outstripped growth in new listings. Seller’s market conditions translated into robust rates of price growth.”<\/p>\n

Price Relief in the New Year?<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s how things stood in November, when winter\u2019s icy grip had yet to really make its presence felt in Toronto and the surrounding area. December and January should tell a different story, at least if the forecasters\u2019 prediction of a long, harsh winter are to be taken for face value. That should mean some alleviation to the constant price surge for homes in the city this year.<\/p>\n

Carlos Moniz<\/a>, an agent with Zoocasa, says the results for November largely compliment what he has experienced with his business as the year draws to a close.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally we see most sales in the spring and the fall, but in such a tight market where inventory levels are so low, buyers are still out there now,\u201d he says. \u201cJust this week I had a client put an offer on a place that had 11 offers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter Sellers Often Acting on Urgency<\/h2>\n

One would assume that same property might not attract such interest when it\u2019s -20 outside, so in situations when the seller is desperate to move the property right away, it creates better value for the buyer. At a time when many first-time buyers are being priced out of the market in the GTA, any faint sign of a bargain is more than welcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main benefit for the buyer is that you should have less competition buying in the winter,\u201d says Moniz. \u201cFamilies that plan to move generally do so in the spring market. If someone is selling in the winter it might not be as planned, so in November and December you can find some of the best deals.\u201d
\nCanada isn\u2019t called the Great White North for no reason \u2013 winters here are long and arduous, but also something Canadians take great pride in also. That said, you won\u2019t find many complaining when the ice begins to thaw and the first shoots of green start to materialize. When that happens, real estate agents will be aware that their busy season is about to begin, and with that, any lull in activity in January and February will likely be replaced with 10-12 hour days and phones ringing incessantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s usually a correlation with the weather,\u201d says Moniz. \u201cOnce the snow hits the ground things tend to slow down. Depending on whether we have a long winter or not would usually decide when it starts to pick up \u2013 usually around March or April.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to buying a home, the perceived wisdom is that there are deals to be had in the winter months. Spring and summer tend to be when people hunt for real estate, especially in a country like Canada where sub-zero temperatures can last for months at a time. So when there\u2019s snow on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":8714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying-a-home"],"yoast_head":"\nShould You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zoocasa Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Buy-a-home-in-the-winter.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0d08780fafb880638fe17d0ded87bb3\"},\"headline\":\"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\"},\"wordCount\":629,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Buying a Home\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\",\"name\":\"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zoocasa Blog\",\"description\":\"Home Buying & Selling Tips, Real Estate Market Trends & News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Zoocasa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Zoocasa\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Zoocasa\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0d08780fafb880638fe17d0ded87bb3\",\"name\":\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a539d6520266b56c3b0c525b9e6128858baeccb5ee9b694a2906e123c8d6dd3?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a539d6520266b56c3b0c525b9e6128858baeccb5ee9b694a2906e123c8d6dd3?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in\"},\"description\":\"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in is a freelance writer from Ireland that moved to Toronto in 2010. Writing for his local newspaper, he covered real estate during Ireland\u2019s \u201cCeltic Tiger\u201d era and the subsequent housing crash and financial crisis. Today he writes about real estate, finance and politics in Canada, the U.S., Ireland and England.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/author\/daibheadoceallachain\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life","description":"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life","og_description":"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/","og_site_name":"Zoocasa Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa","article_published_time":"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Buy-a-home-in-the-winter.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Zoocasa","twitter_site":"@Zoocasa","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/"},"author":{"name":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0d08780fafb880638fe17d0ded87bb3"},"headline":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter?","datePublished":"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/"},"wordCount":629,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Buying a Home"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/","name":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter? | Zoocasa Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-08T18:02:29+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-08T18:12:10+00:00","description":"Is it a good idea to buy a home in the winter? There may be some real estate deals to be had by shopping during the cold weather months.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/should-you-buy-a-home-in-the-winter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should You Buy a Home in the Winter?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/","name":"Zoocasa Blog","description":"Home Buying & Selling Tips, Real Estate Market Trends & News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Zoocasa","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Zoocasa"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Zoocasa"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0d08780fafb880638fe17d0ded87bb3","name":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a539d6520266b56c3b0c525b9e6128858baeccb5ee9b694a2906e123c8d6dd3?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a539d6520266b56c3b0c525b9e6128858baeccb5ee9b694a2906e123c8d6dd3?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in"},"description":"Daibhead O\u2019Ceallach\u00e1in is a freelance writer from Ireland that moved to Toronto in 2010. Writing for his local newspaper, he covered real estate during Ireland\u2019s \u201cCeltic Tiger\u201d era and the subsequent housing crash and financial crisis. Today he writes about real estate, finance and politics in Canada, the U.S., Ireland and England.","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/author\/daibheadoceallachain\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}