Lloyd Realtor Dave Kadun, owner of DK Real Estate Group, has been promoting Lloydminster as a low-cost housing destination with a small-town feel to out-of-province buyers. He talked about that and the local market at the Rotary Club of Lloydminster’s Monday luncheon. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
Local Realtor Dave Kadun, who owns DK Real Estate Group, has found success promoting Lloydminster as a low-cost housing city for buyers across the country.
He shared his strategy providing a snapshot of the city-wide real estate market as a guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Lloydminster’s Monday luncheon.
“We’re moving into much more of a balanced market and it won’t be long before we’re in a sellers’ market,” said Kadun citing a year-over-year market shift in the first quarter of 2024.
“Inventories are continuing to drop and demand is rising.”
Kadun says if the Bank of Canada lowers its interest rate in June that will increase demand and prices for housing.
He says the hottest markets in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto are making prices in Lloydminster attractive to sellers in those markets.
“Last week, I had two families move from Chilliwack B.C. to Lloydminster with not one tie to Lloydminster. The only reason they picked Lloydminster was the cost of living,” said Kadun.
He says the family was a middle-aged couple and their adult kids who sold their three-storey townhome for $795,000 and bought a single-family house in Lloyd for $305,000 in cash.
They said the cost of living and small community is where it’s at,” reported Kadun along with being able to work remotely.
“That’s what we’re seeing as a constant,” he said.
Kadun said he also recently sold a house in Lloyd to a 27-year-old man for $480,000 in cash after his house in Markham ONT. fetched $1.1 million—well over the listing price of $975,000.
“He didn’t want to negotiate. He saw the value— no ties to Lloydminster, but he sees the value of living mortgage-free.
“So that’s what I’ve been pushing since last year for out-of-province people to come to Lloydminster. This is where you have the opportunities and it is helping to drive the real estate market,” said Kadun.
In the first quarter of the year, there were 151 active residential listings in Lloydminster, the lowest since 2014. In 2021, there were 400 in the first four months.
“At that time, you could throw a stone and find a house. It was so easy,” said Kadun.
“Now, it’s getting to the point where we’re having trouble finding homes.”
In April this year, 60 residential properties sold in the city and 192 since January, compared to 48 sales in April 2023 and 135 in the first quarter of 2023.
“We’re seeing an increase where buyers are not scared of the interest rate anymore,” said Kadun, noting March, April and May are typically the highest months for sales.
“Whether it’s something that continues through the rest of the year is something we’re trying to figure out.”
He says condos are starting to move, but they are still priced low because of higher fees.
“The desire for them especially from an investor standpoint is not there,” said Kadun.
He says it’s getting tougher to find affordable rental properties.
“Lloydminster could use more multi-family housing, but to find an investor to build that and make a profit is extremely hard because the cost of building is through the roof,” he said.
“Rents will continue to go up. There’s no break coming in.”
Kadun says projects such as the Cenovus Energy Hub are helping to drive up rents by bringing people to the city.
As for new housing, he says it’s so expensive to build a house in Lloydminster right now.
“Until the resident resale market catches up to new home construction, the focus is going to be on resale homes,” he said.
Kadun told Rotary he has expanded his real estate reach to Orlando Florida helping Canadian Snowbirds relocate to the region.
He also let on his company is a cloud-based realtor with his wife, Jennifer, a DK agent herself.
Kadun was a former RCMP officer in Saskatchewan who retired due to post-traumatic stress disorder and became a Realtor in 2015.
“What I enjoyed about being a police officer was talking with people. I love interacting with people so being a Realtor gives me an opportunity to continue to talk with people,” said Kadun.
“I actually attribute that to my recovery (in progress). Real estate has been a healing factor for me.”
