Published by Ryan Elliott | Royal LePage | St. John’s, NL
Every spring, the same question starts showing up in my inbox: “Should I wait until summer to list?”
It’s a fair question. Summer feels like the right time to sell. The days are longer, the city looks great, and buyers are active. But if you’re making a decision worth hundreds of thousands of dollars based on a feeling, that’s a problem.
So let’s look at what’s actually happening in the St. John’s market right now — and what it means for your timing.
Summer Brings More Buyers. It Also Brings More Competition.
Yes, buyer activity in St. John’s peaks from May through August. Families want to move before the school year starts. Out-of-province buyers planning relocations are doing site visits. Pre-approved buyers who spent the winter watching listings are ready to act.
That’s all real, and it works in your favour.
But here’s what most sellers don’t factor in: you’re not the only one who waited until summer to list. Every other seller in the city had the same idea. More listings hit the market. More competition for buyer attention. More homes for buyers to compare yours against.
In a market with genuinely tight supply like St. John’s, that competition effect is smaller than it would be in Toronto or Halifax. But it still exists, and it matters for pricing strategy.
What the 2026 Numbers Actually Show
Here’s where the St. John’s story gets interesting — and a bit counterintuitive.
Prices are still climbing. The average sale price in St. John’s was up 9.6% year-over-year as of late 2025, and median prices continued rising through Q1 2026, up approximately 6.6% year-over-year. By April 2026, the province-wide average sat at $355,067 — an 8.7% gain from the same month last year.
But transaction volume has pulled back. Home sales in April 2026 were down 29.7% year-over-year in St. John’s specifically. Province-wide, sales were running about 10.6% below the same period in 2025.
What does that combination tell us? Prices are holding because supply is still constrained — total listings actually decreased 2.4% from 2024 to 2025. But the pool of active buyers has shrunk somewhat as affordability pressure, higher prices, and some rate uncertainty keeps a portion of the market on the sidelines.
For sellers, this has a clear implication: the buyers who are active right now are serious. They’re not browsers. They’re pre-approved, motivated, and ready to write offers. That’s not a summer-only phenomenon — it’s the market we’re operating in right now.
The Real Variable: Your Home, Priced Right
Here’s what 20+ years of selling in this market has taught me.
The homes that underperform in any season — summer included — are the ones priced above what the data supports. In a market where buyers have pulled back somewhat and are doing their homework, an overpriced listing sits. It gets stale. Price reductions feel like a distress signal, even when they’re just a correction.
The homes that perform in any season are the ones that hit the market clean, priced accurately, and marketed well from day one.
Right now, with months of inventory at approximately 4.5 months across the region, well-priced move-in-ready homes in neighbourhoods like CBS, Paradise, and the St. John’s East End are still generating strong interest and — in some cases — multiple offers.
That’s not a summer statistic. That’s a pricing and preparation statistic.
So When Should You List?
If your home is ready and you’ve been waiting for the “right time,” here’s my honest answer: late June through mid-July is a strong window — you catch peak buyer activity before the August slowdown, curb appeal is at its best, and your competition from other sellers, while present, hasn’t peaked the way it does in May.
But if your home needs work or you’re holding out hoping for prices to jump significantly from where they are now, that’s a riskier bet in 2026. CREA’s economists have flagged that the St. John’s market could begin to moderate as the year progresses, as interprovincial migration slows and supply gradually catches up — even if only modestly.
The window is open. It won’t be open forever.
A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You List This Summer
No land transfer tax in Newfoundland. This is a genuine competitive advantage for buyers coming from other provinces. In Ontario, a buyer purchasing a $600,000 home pays upward of $8,000 in land transfer tax. In NL, they pay zero. For sellers, this means out-of-province buyers — who are an active segment of the St. John’s market — have more purchasing power here than elsewhere in Canada.
HST doesn’t apply to resale homes. If you’re selling a previously-owned property, buyers aren’t paying HST on the purchase price. That’s another advantage that makes your listing more attractive compared to new construction, where HST does apply.
Buyers are comparing right now. With overall transaction volume down, the buyers who are active are doing thorough comparisons. Presentation, photos, and accurate pricing matter more than they did in 2021 when anything sold in a weekend regardless of condition.
Thinking About Listing This Summer?
If you’re weighing your options — whether to list now, wait until fall, or skip straight to renovations before hitting the market — I’m happy to walk you through what homes in your neighbourhood are actually selling for right now, and what that means for your strategy.
No pitch. Just data and an honest conversation.
Reach out directly: call or text [your number], or email relliott@royallepage.ca.