In a recent conversation with a fellow Halifax real estate professional, we covered ground that every seller, buyer, and agent in this market needs to understand right now. The numbers are clear. The strategies need to catch up.

The 68% Problem

Let's start with the headline statistic: of 185 homes that eventually sold, 68% required a price reduction before they found a buyer. The average reduction? Just over $40,000. And that's the average — meaning many sellers faced considerably larger adjustments.

This is not a minor market correction footnote. This is a structural signal. When more than two-thirds of successfully sold properties needed a price cut to transact, the market is communicating something loudly and consistently. The question is whether sellers — and their agents — are listening.

This is one of the quieter consequences of the COVID-era market: a wave of agents who entered the business during a period when virtually any listing at any reasonable price attracted multiple offers. Those conditions no longer exist. Relearning the discipline of precise, evidence-based pricing from day one is no longer optional.

The Pricing Pyramid Still Applies

Real estate fundamentals haven't changed — only the willingness to apply them. Price a property 5% above fair market value and you attract a narrow sliver of buyers. Price it 5% below and you widen the funnel significantly. What has changed is the penalty for getting it wrong.

The sellers going below market value aren't doing so to create a bidding frenzy — that dynamic has largely dissolved. They're doing it because they have to move: a job relocation, a life event, a posting. Those are legitimate circumstances. But those outlier sales are now setting uncomfortable new benchmarks on streets where neighbours expect a higher return. That makes the listing agent's job of managing expectations more nuanced than ever.

Neighbourhood Value Is Real — But Buyers Are Shopping Broadly

One of the more instructive dynamics right now: buyers are comparing properties across neighbourhoods that historically operated in distinct price tiers. Clayton Park, Sackville, Spryfield, Fairview, Armdale — buyers who once focused narrowly are now casting a wider net due to limited inventory.

The challenge? That comparison doesn't always translate to equivalent pricing. Clayton Park commands a premium over certain other submarkets for legitimate reasons — school catchment, proximity to amenities, neighbourhood composition. But if the buyer's agent isn't having that conversation clearly, sellers in premium neighbourhoods find themselves defending their price against comparables that don't belong in the same analysis.

Price Reductions Are Strategy, Not Desperation

There's a persistent myth that a price reduction signals desperation. In the current market, I'd argue the opposite is true. A seller who systematically adjusts toward market reality is demonstrating motivated, informed intent to sell. What actually raises flags for experienced buyers and agents is a property that has sat for nine months at the same price with zero movement — that signals either unrealistic expectations or a property with undisclosed issues.

A strategic approach: list with data-informed precision, build in a planned timeline, and make measured price adjustments based on market feedback — showing activity, qualified traffic, and buyer response. A 10% reduction executed in two disciplined steps is far more effective than one dramatic correction after six months of stagnation.

The "Keep Me Posted" Problem

Any experienced listing agent recognizes the phrase. When a buyer's agent calls after a showing and offers "keep me posted," that is not an expression of interest — it's a polite exit. Real interest surfaces as questions, second showings, and offers. A buyer who wants a property does not want to be outcompeted; they'll move.

The current buyer is not going to manufacture competition out of goodwill. The days of "I'll call everyone who showed and see if we can create a multiple-offer scenario" are, for the most part, behind us. Sellers and agents who are still operating on that playbook are in for a difficult season.

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