Weak housing report for St. John's doesn't faze local realtor

A St. John's realtor says home buyers shouldn't take too much toheart a report out this week from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, detailing how the price of oil has affectedthe city's housing market.

"Idon't make much of it," said Jason Piercey, who also hosts a local real estate web series on Facebook, The Ask Jason Show.

• Oil price slump tied to soft St. John's housing market: CMHC

Still, Pierceysaidsome of the CMHCreport's numbers and thesubsequentmedia coverage havecreated a sense of unease among his clients, and that he is in "damage control" mode.

The report, released Thursday, noted a large degree of uncertainty in the St. John's market predicted to last through 2017, withfewer houses currently on the market and a decline overall in average house prices.

But Piercey said a careful readingof the data should reassure nervous sellers.

"That data, about average sale price, does not say that you lost $30,000 of equity in your home overnight," he told CBC News, noting that is an average and doesn't reflect each individual house.

"We're drawing conclusions sometimes, but not alwaysfor the sake of sensationalism. Becauseit will get people to pay attention."

A house under $250K? 'You are golden'

Piercey said a seller's best bet in turbulent times is a good salesman.

"Ifyou want to sell your house for top dollar, my advice is hire someone who knows how to market like it's 2016, not somebody who knows how to market like it's 2009," he said, admitting that puts pressure on realtors to provide good value to their clients.

My advice is to hire someone who knows how to market like it's 2016.- JasonPiercey

Piercey also said before even contacting a real estate agent, people should get their financial house in order.

"Go to the bank first. Because I'm going to show you a house and you're going to fall in love with it, and it's going to break your heart when the bank says that you can't make that particular one happen," he said.

And at least one sector of the sellingmarket shouldn't be worried about the report.

"If you own a house right now that's$250,000 or less, you are golden,if you want to sell that."