For Sale signs have been going up and coming down with a little more regularity in the Estevan area of late, as houses begin to sell more often in a recovering market. According to local real estate agents, it's a buyers market at the moment, but the conditions of COVID-19 so far this year haven't favored anyone really. 

That is beginning to change in the Estevan area. Josh LeBlanc, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Choice Real Estate, has started to see more and more of his clients moving their homes successfully. 

"What we're seeing is an increased number of sales," LeBlanc said. "But with that really is a decrease in the sales price. People are starting to reduce their homes (prices) a lot more and a lot more often, so that's attributing to a little bit busier of a market than we saw at this time last year."

In LeBlanc's eyes, it's fair to call this a buyer's market, though he added that predates the COVID-19 pandemic in the Estevan area. He said if you've been hemming and hawing about homeownership, now is the time to start thinking more seriously about it.

"We're seeing some really drastic price improvements in order to make these sales happen," he said. "People are starting to catch on to, I don't want to say the new normal of the market, but we're definitely 30-35 percent lower than the average sale price of what we're used to seeing."

For LeBlanc, it's just nice to see houses moving as he pointed out even a market where houses are selling more cheaply is better than a market where they're not selling at all. And people are still able to move out of apartments and into homes. 

"Right now the most active price range in Estevan is really anything under that $250,000 to $230,000 mark," he explained. "Anything below that seems to be selling quite quickly."

LeBlanc also said he's noticed a downward trend in the price of monthly rent in apartments. It's good news for tenants and anyone looking to get into an apartment, but it's also good news for anyone looking to leave.

"People who are moving out of their rental situation have been able to save up for down payments and those types of things," said LeBlanc. "There are some changes that are coming along." 

LeBlanc also said throughout the spring he noticed more people getting comfortable showing their homes as the pandemic has gone on. Open houses are now allowed to start back up again as well.