Vent: That whole 'just wait for prices to drop' advice is killing first time buyers

I keep hearing people on this sub tell new buyers to sit tight and wait for a crash. But I've been watching Edmonton listings for 3 years now and prices on entry level detached homes under 450k have actually gone up about 8 percent. Meanwhile my buddy waited 18 months trying to time the market and now he's priced out of the neighborhoods he was looking at in 2022. The thing people miss is that construction costs and land prices aren't going backwards. I poured foundations for 4 new builds in Leduc last month and the cost of rebar alone is up 20 percent from last year. How are builders supposed to sell cheaper when their inputs keep climbing? If you can afford a place now and plan to stay 5 plus years, dragging your feet just means paying more later. Has anyone else seen this 'wait and save' strategy backfire for people they know?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagesingh1mo ago

Yeah I used to be in the "wait it out" camp too but your post made me rethink that. I told my nephew to hold off on buying a starter home in 2021 and now that same house is 50 grand more than he would have paid back then. Just watching prices creep up while people hope for a drop feels like a gamble that rarely pays off.

oscar_hunt611mo ago

Wait it out is tricky because even if prices dip, mortgage rates usually shoot up right when things get shaky. That same house might have been 50k less in 2021 but with a 3% rate versus what, 6.5% now? The monthly payment could be similar or even higher if you factor in both. I told my own kid to wait back in 2020 and we did the math later - he would have saved maybe 30k on price but the rate difference ate that up in about 3 years of interest. Timing the market on both price and rates at the same time is nearly impossible unless you get lucky.