Greater Moncton Real Estate Blog

Your Oil Tank Can Kill a Deal Faster Than You Think

It's there. It holds oil. The furnace works. Everybody carries on with their life.  Then a buyer comes along, their insurance company asks how old the tank is, and suddenly the rusty metal box in the basement is running the whole transaction.

If your home is heated with oil, especially in places like Salisbury, Memramcook, Cocagne and a lot of rural New Brunswick, this is something worth figuring out before you list.  Not after you have an accepted offer. Not three days before conditions are due. And definitely not when the buyer's lender, insurance company, lawyer and REALTOR® are all suddenly asking questions you don't have answers to.

WHY THE OIL TANK EVEN MATTERS

Most buyers aren't showing up with a suitcase full of cash. They're getting a mortgage.

And in most financed purchases, the lender wants confirmation that the property can be insured before they'll release mortgage funds. So if the insurance company has a problem with your oil tank, the lender may have a problem with the house.

And once the lender has a problem, everybody has a problem.

You'll sometimes hear people throw around numbers like 15 years for an exterior tank and 25 years for an interior tank. Those numbers have been used as general insurance-industry benchmarks, but they are not New Brunswick law and they are not universal cut-offs.

Insurance companies make their own underwriting rules. The material of the tank matters. Where it is located matters. Its construction matters. Its condition matters. Some modern double-wall, fibreglass and composite tanks can have significantly longer acceptable service lives than traditional steel tanks.

So the useful question isn't, "Is my tank more than 15 years old?"

The useful question is, "Will a buyer be able to insure this house with this tank?"

That's the question that can affect your sale.

NOT KNOWING THE AGE ISN'T A GREAT ANSWER

One of the worst answers a seller can give when asked about an oil tank is, "No idea. It was here when we bought the place."

It may be completely true.  It's also completely useless.

There is a significant difference between saying, "It was installed in 2014 and here's the invoice," and saying, "Could be 12 years old. Could be 32. Your guess is as good as mine."

If you have paperwork, find it before the property hits the market. An installation receipt, replacement invoice, previous inspection or the manufacturer's label can all help establish the tank's age.  Insurance companies tend to deal better with facts than folklore.

YES, THESE THINGS ACTUALLY LEAK

This isn't just insurance-company bureaucracy invented to ruin everybody's afternoon.

Nearly 40% of all oil spills reported to New Brunswick's Department of Environment and Local Government each year come from domestic oil tanks at private homes.  Outside tanks can develop condensation. Steel can corrode. Supports can fail. Fuel lines can leak. And sometimes the exterior of a tank looks perfectly fine while corrosion is occurring internally.

So standing beside it, kicking the leg and announcing, "Looks good to me," probably isn't enough.  That's how guys assess used lawn tractors.

The province recommends homeowners regularly inspect their tanks and have them professionally inspected annually by a licensed installer.

WHO GETS STUCK WITH THE CLEANUP?

This is where the conversation can get considerably more expensive than simply replacing an oil tank.

Under New Brunswick's Clean Environment Act, the province can potentially look to several different parties when contamination is discovered. That can include the person who caused the release, certain previous owners, and the current owner or occupier of the property.  

That does not mean the current owner automatically becomes responsible for every spill that ever occurred on the property.  But it does mean buying a property doesn't necessarily give you a clean slate if someone buried an oil tank in 1987, removed it badly, or allowed fuel to contaminate the surrounding soil.  

If there is evidence of an old underground tank, previous leakage or contaminated soil, stop guessing. That is the point where proper environmental and legal advice becomes considerably more useful than somebody's uncle telling you what happened with his neighbour's house twenty years ago.

WHAT ABOUT THE 2,000-LITRE RULE?

Another thing that gets misunderstood is New Brunswick's petroleum storage licensing requirement.

The province requires a petroleum storage site licence for systems with a total capacity of 2,000 litres or more.

Most typical residential heating-oil tanks fall below that threshold, so the average homeowner with a standard tank isn't unknowingly operating an illegal petroleum facility in the basement.  But being below 2,000 litres does not mean there are no rules or no consequences.  If a residential tank leaks, it is still petroleum contamination.

Apparently oil does not become environmentally friendly because the tank was 1,100 litres too small to require a provincial licence.

WHAT ABOUT THE PROPERTY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT?

I've already written about New Brunswick's Residential Property Disclosure Statement before.

The RPDS is not automatically required in every residential transaction. That does not mean sellers should suddenly develop selective amnesia.  There is a meaningful difference between genuinely not knowing something and knowing about an issue but hoping nobody asks the right question.  If you know an oil tank has leaked, know there was previously an underground tank, know contaminated soil was discovered, or know there is an unresolved environmental concern, that needs to be taken seriously.  And if you're unsure what your legal disclosure obligations are, that's where your lawyer comes in.

I'd much rather have a seller spend a few minutes getting proper advice before listing than have lawyers discussing the same issue after closing.

Lawyers are great.

They're just considerably less enjoyable when they're billing you.

WHAT SHOULD YOU ACTUALLY DO BEFORE LISTING?

Start by figuring out how old the tank is.

Check the manufacturer's label. Look through the paperwork from when you purchased the home. Find installation invoices, service records or replacement receipts.  Then actually look at the thing.  Pay attention to corrosion, staining underneath or around the tank, unusual oil smells, damaged supports, cracks, dents or anything else that seems questionable.  If the tank is older, its age can't be established, or something simply doesn't look right, have someone qualified inspect it before you list the property.

Not after you receive an offer.

Before.

If the answer comes back that the tank needs replacement, you can deal with it calmly and make an informed decision.  That is considerably easier than discovering the problem while a buyer's financing and insurance conditions expire in 48 hours.

One is home maintenance.

The other starts to feel suspiciously like a hostage negotiation.

WHAT IF THE TANK NEEDS TO BE REPLACED?

Then deal with it.  Seriously.

A seller replacing an aging tank before listing is inconvenient.

A seller trying to replace one during conditions while the buyer's lender and insurance company are waiting for documentation is considerably more inconvenient.  

If the tank is nearing the end of its usable life anyway, it may also be the right time to look at whether continuing with oil makes financial sense.  That doesn't automatically mean ripping out a perfectly functioning heating system because somebody on Facebook bought a heat pump.  It just means look at the options before spending money replacing one component of a system you may already have been considering changing.

THINKING ABOUT GETTING RID OF OIL COMPLETELY?

If you're already considering replacing the oil tank or heating system, check the current SaveEnergyNB programs before assuming the entire cost will come out of your pocket.  The Oil to Heat Pump Affordability advance-payment stream stopped accepting new registrations in June 2026, but other heat-pump incentives remain available through SaveEnergyNB programs.

The important word there is current.

Government programs change. Rebates change. Eligibility changes.  So don't base a five-figure heating decision on what your neighbour's cousin received three years ago.  Check what is actually available when you're ready to do the work.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Having an oil tank isn't automatically a problem.  Having an old, undocumented, questionable oil tank can be.  And the worst time to discover that is after you've accepted an offer and everyone suddenly realizes the buyer may not be able to insure the property.

Before you list an oil-heated home, know the age of the tank. Know its condition. Know whether there are likely to be insurance issues. Keep whatever documentation you have.

It's not exciting real estate advice.  It's just one of those boring little things nobody worries about until it starts threatening a $400,000 transaction.

Then, strangely enough, everybody cares.

If you're thinking about selling and want someone to go through this stuff before it becomes a problem, give me a call.  I'll tell you what I think needs attention, what I wouldn't waste money on, and what may actually matter when a buyer, inspector, insurer or lender starts asking questions.

No pressure, just straight answers.

Shane MacPherson, REALTOR®, eXp Realty

506-852-6477

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

One Region. Four Markets. And a Whole Lot of Different Stories.

One region. Four main markets. Thirteen local pockets. And seven of those thirteen didn’t even crack 10 sales in August. That should probably tell you something before we even get started.

August was quiet across most of Greater Moncton. Sales dropped, inventory kept building, and you now have to go all the way back to August 2019 to find an August with more homes sitting on the market than we had this month.

And Dieppe, which was one of the hottest parts of the region a month ago, went from WARM to COLD. Not “showing signs of moderation.” Not “transitioning toward balance.” Cold.

Here’s what actually happened, area by area. No spin. No pretending every statistic is somehow good news. Just the numbers and what they mean.

Quick key before you scroll:

• HOT: Sellers are firmly in control. Buyers need to come prepared.

• WARM: Still favours sellers, but buyers can breathe.

• BALANCED: Pretty much a fair fight.

• COOLING: Buyers are gaining leverage.

• COLD: Buyers are holding most of the cards.

• TOO SMALL TO RATE: Fewer than 10 sales. Pretending six transactions accurately describe an entire neighbourhood is how bad statistics become Facebook posts.

GREATER MONCTON: COOLING

255 sales | $374,090 average | $357,000 median | 6.2 months of inventory | 47 days on market

Sales fell 15.3% from last August while active listings climbed to 1,585. You have to go back to August 2019 to find an August with more homes for sale.

Average price fell 3.5%. Median price slipped just 1.6%. And here’s why I don’t obsess over average price: the MLS Home Price Index benchmark sits at $378,700, which is actually up 4.4% from last year. At the same time, it’s down 1.5% from last month and 6.3% over the past three months.

Same market. Three different stories depending on which statistic somebody decides to throw at you.  The average doesn’t lie. It just gets pushed around by whatever happened to sell that month, which is why one headline number rarely tells you much.

MONCTON: COOLING

90 sales | $403,538 average | $369,500 median | 5.5 months of inventory | 49 days on market

Sales were down 9.1%, and homes are taking considerably longer to move. Moncton is not the screaming seller’s market a lot of people still seem to think it is.

That doesn’t mean houses aren’t selling. It means the wrong house at the wrong price isn’t getting rescued by the market anymore.

Moncton North: WARM

42 sales | $418,113 average | $382,375 median | 3.4 months of inventory | 51.5 days on market

Inventory says WARM. Almost everything else tells you to pump the brakes.

Average price fell roughly 10.5%. Median price fell about 9%. And homes took 51.5 days to sell compared with just 21 days last August.  Still competitive? Absolutely. Automatic multiple offers because the photographer remembered to turn the lights on? Those days are behind us.

Moncton East: COOLING

24 sales | $444,506 average | $397,500 median | 5.8 months of inventory | 48.5 days on market

Interestingly, prices actually increased here. Average price rose 9.6% and median price increased 4.6%.

But active inventory climbed, months of inventory increased from 4.4 to 5.8, and homes took longer to sell. Higher prices do not automatically mean a stronger market. Buyers have more to choose from and more room to negotiate.

Moncton Center: COLD

18 sales | $346,389 average | $347,000 median | 11.4 months of inventory | 54 days on market

Sales fell 41.9%. There were 205 active listings against just 18 sales, which works out to 11.4 months of inventory.

People keep asking whether there’s anywhere in Greater Moncton that is legitimately a buyer’s market. Yep. There it is.  And if your listing has been sitting since spring, the market isn’t necessarily the only problem.

The Real Cost of Overpricing Your Home in Greater Moncton

Moncton West: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Six sales.  That’s not a market sample. That’s a dinner reservation. Moving on.

DIEPPE: COLD

25 sales | $416,930 average | $392,500 median | 8.5 months of inventory | 43 days on market

This one deserves attention. Sales fell 26.5%. Active listings climbed 21.7%. Months of inventory hit 8.5 compared with 5.1 last August.

And last month Dieppe was sitting at only 3.7 months of inventory.  One month does not make a trend, but going from 3.7 months to 8.5 months in thirty days isn’t something you casually wave away either.

Dieppe didn’t gently cool off in August. Someone opened the freezer door.

Dieppe Fox Creek: COOLING

12 sales | $458,192 average | $396,250 median | 5.5 months of inventory | 25.5 days on market

This was one of the hottest spots in the entire region last month. When homes sell here, they’re still moving quickly. Twenty-five days is fast in this market.  There’s simply less selling happening. Sales fell 25%, while 66 homes were sitting active against those 12 sales.

Still a good market. Just not the feeding frenzy it was.

Dieppe Chartersville: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Six sales.

But there’s still something worth noticing. Active listings jumped 87.8% from last August and inventory climbed from 6.8 months to 12.8 months.

Six sales isn’t enough for me to slap a confident market label on it. Twelve months of inventory is enough to make me pay attention.

Dieppe Center: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Seven sales.  

Average price rose 5.6%, but months of inventory climbed from 5.1 last August to 9.0 this August.  Again, seven sales can do funny things to averages. Don’t build an entire market narrative around seven houses.

Dieppe East: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Zero sales. Two new listings. Seven active listings.

Hard to calculate what the market is doing when nobody actually bought anything.

RIVERVIEW: BALANCED

21 sales | $378,176 average | $350,000 median | 4.0 months of inventory | 34 days on market

Last month Riverview was running at only 2.3 months of inventory. Now it’s at 4.0.  That’s a substantial change in thirty days, especially with sales down 30%.

Still healthy. Still moving. Just nowhere near as lopsided in the seller’s favour as it was.

Riverview West: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Eight sales.  That’s down from 17 last August, a decline of roughly 53%.  Some of the price numbers look strong, but eight sales can make an average price dance around like it’s had three Caesars. Don’t overread it.

Riverview East: HOT

10 sales | $332,740 average | $343,500 median | 1.5 months of inventory | 37 days on market

Ten transactions is the absolute minimum I’m willing to rate, but at 1.5 months of inventory this remains the tightest rated pocket in the region.  This is one of the few places where sellers can still reasonably expect buyers to compete.  That still doesn’t mean you can price your house like you’ve been drinking. There are limits.

Riverview Center: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Three sales.  

There is nothing statistically responsible I can tell you about an entire market based on three people buying houses.

SHEDIAC AND COAST: COOLING

31 sales | $424,706 average | $425,000 median | 5.7 months of inventory | 55 days on market

Finally, somebody sold more houses than last August.

Sales rose 6.9%, making Shediac and the coast one of the few genuine bright spots for transaction volume this month. Homes still took 55 days to sell, but that’s a hell of an improvement from 79 days last August.

Shediac East / Cap-Pelé: TOO SMALL TO RATE

Six sales.

Sales increased from five to six, technically a 20% increase. Which is also a fantastic demonstration of why percentages without context can be ridiculous.  Inventory sits at 8.3 months and the average sale-to-list ratio came in below 94%.

Small sample, yes. But in that small sample, sellers weren’t exactly naming their price.

THE DETACHED HOME MARKET TOOK A BIGGER HIT

This one deserves its own section.  Single-detached sales fell 24.1% from last August, with 176 homes sold. Overall residential sales dropped 15.3%.  So if you’re trying to sell a detached home right now and it feels noticeably slower out there, you’re not imagining it. That segment took a materially bigger hit than the market overall.

But here’s where things get interesting.

Semi-detached sales went completely the other direction. Forty-nine semis sold in August, up 48.5% from last year. 

Think about that for a second:

• Detached home sales: down 24.1%

• Semi-detached home sales: up 48.5%

Same region. Same month. Two completely different markets.

Which is exactly why saying “the Moncton market is hot” or “the Moncton market is slow” doesn’t tell you nearly enough anymore.

SO WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS ACTUALLY MEAN?

There isn’t one Greater Moncton real estate market.  There are markets inside markets inside markets.

A seller in Riverview East is dealing with 1.5 months of inventory. A seller in Moncton Center is staring at 11.4.

Those two people are not participating in remotely the same real estate market, regardless of what some national headline tells you happened to Canadian housing this week.

And that’s really the point of digging through 365 pages of CREA data.

13 Sub-Markets. Zero Guessing.

The headline number is interesting. Your neighbourhood is useful.  Your property type matters. Your price range matters. Your competition matters. And increasingly, all of those things matter a hell of a lot more than someone saying, “The Moncton market is up 4%.”

Up where? For what? Compared to what?

That’s the part that actually matters.

CREA tracks the national numbers as well if you want to see how Moncton and Area compares with the rest of Canada:

CREA Housing Market Stats

If you want to know what the numbers actually mean for your house, your neighbourhood and what you’re trying to do, call or text 506-852-6477.

No pressure. Just straight answers.  Even when the answer isn’t the one you were hoping for.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson | REALTOR® | eXp Realty (506) 852-6477

Source: CREA Moncton and Area Residential Market Activity and MLS® HPI Report, August 2026. Sub-areas with fewer than 10 monthly sales are flagged rather than rated, because small samples make unreliable trends.

Every seller thinks their house is the exception. The one where starting a little high "just to see" doesn't really hurt anything. Worst case, you can always lower the price later, right?

Well... yes. You can.

You can also put ketchup on a steak.

Being allowed to do something doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.  And there is actually some pretty interesting data showing just how much those first few weeks on the market matter.

What Actually Happens When You Price Too High

A Realtor.com study released in June 2026 looked at the U.S. housing market and found a pretty significant relationship between time on market and what sellers ultimately received relative to their asking price.  Homes that closed around the four-week mark sold about 1.8 percentage points above the monthly average sale-to-list ratio for comparable homes. Homes that were still sitting around eighteen weeks sold about 1.3 percentage points below it. That's a spread of more than three percentage points between the two.

Even more interesting, the strongest performers in that four-week group had generally gone under contract within the first two weeks. Realtor.com's analysis also found that price reductions tend to spike after those critical opening weeks.

Now, that's U.S. data, and I'm not going to pretend American statistics magically become New Brunswick statistics because they're convenient for a blog post. But the psychology behind it certainly isn't exclusive to Americans.

A new listing gets attention. Buyers get alerts. Realtors notice it. People who have been watching that neighbourhood click on it. Buyers who have been waiting for the right house book showings. That's your window.  Price it properly and you're using all that initial attention to your advantage. Price it high because you want to "leave room to negotiate" and you risk wasting the period when your listing has the most attention it is ever going to get.

Buyers notice. They're not fooled. They're usually just too polite to tell you.

What Could That Look Like Here?

Again, the Realtor.com study is U.S. data. We don't have a Greater Moncton study proving that a home sitting eighteen weeks will automatically sell for exactly 3.1% less than one selling quickly, so I'm not going to tell you that we do.

But applying that 3.1 percentage-point spread to our July 2026 median sale prices gives us an interesting illustration of the kind of money we're talking about:

• Greater Moncton, median sale price of $362,000: roughly $11,220

• Dieppe, median sale price of $412,400: roughly $12,780

• Riverview, median sale price of $364,250: roughly $11,290

• Shediac and the coast, median sale price of $347,450: roughly $10,770

Those aren't measured local losses caused by overpricing. They're simply examples of what a three-point difference represents at the price levels we're dealing with here.

Ten or twelve grand isn't exactly pocket change.

More importantly, our local CREA numbers show why pricing can't be treated the same across every part of Greater Moncton. Different districts and sub-districts have different inventory levels, days on market, sale-to-list ratios and levels of buyer demand. Your neighbourhood can be behaving very differently from one ten minutes down the road.

That's why pricing a home based on "what houses are going for in Moncton" isn't nearly specific enough. The market doesn't care about Greater Moncton as one giant blob. It cares about what buyers are willing to pay for your type of house, in your area, right now.

Why "Leave Room to Negotiate" Is Backwards

I hear this constantly: "Let's price it a little high. We can always come down later."

Technically true. Here's the part nobody seems nearly as excited about.  Every week the house sits, buyers start asking a different question. At first it's, "What's wrong with the price?" Eventually it becomes, "What's wrong with the house?"

Those are two very different problems.

You finally reduce the price three or six weeks later, except now it's not a new listing anymore. The buyers who were most interested have already seen it. Some have bought something else. Others see the price reduction and smell blood in the water.  Now instead of negotiating from a position of strength, you're trying to convince buyers that the house they already passed over deserves another look.

That's not exactly the master plan.

Pricing properly doesn't necessarily mean pricing low, either. That's an important distinction. It means pricing at a number the current market can support. Sometimes that's aggressive. Sometimes it's conservative. Sometimes the market is strong enough that pricing slightly below where you expect to sell can create competition.

But the strategy should come from the market, not from the number we'd really, really like the house to be worth.

What I Actually Do When Pricing a Home

Here's the real process, not the marketing version.

I normally start with properties that have actually SOLD in the neighbourhood or district over roughly the previous 90 days. Current listings matter because they're your competition, but an asking price doesn't prove market value. Anybody can ask anything they want for a house. Sold properties tell us what buyers actually agreed to pay.

From there I look for the closest comparable properties I can find, considering things like:

• Location and neighbourhood

• Property style and approximate square footage

• Bedrooms and bathrooms

• Age and overall condition

• Lot size

• Garage and outbuildings

• Finished basement space

• Renovations and upgrades

• Major components such as roofing, windows and heating systems

From those sales I build a Comparative Market Analysis, but that's only the first layer.

I cross-reference those comps against CREA statistics for the specific district and sub-district whenever the available data is meaningful. I'm looking at sale-to-list ratios, median days on market, months of inventory, current listings and recent sales activity. I also look at the MLS® Home Price Index and benchmark prices for the area and property type as another check against what the individual comparable sales are telling me.

Then there's something I informally call the neighbourhood ceiling.

Some subdivisions were largely built during the same period, with homes of similar size, style and construction. You might have a beautifully renovated house with $150,000 worth of upgrades, but if that neighbourhood has never produced a sale anywhere near the number you're hoping for, we need to pay attention to that.

Buyers don't suddenly forget where the house is because you installed a really nice kitchen.

There is usually a practical upper end to what a particular neighbourhood will support.

Finally, I look at the house itself. What's been renovated? What's original? What's been maintained? What hasn't? Are the roof, windows, heating system, kitchen and bathrooms relatively current, or are some of those things approaching replacement?

And no, something being twenty years old and not having exploded yet doesn't necessarily qualify as an "upgrade."

The comps tell me what buyers have been willing to pay. The active listings tell me what today's buyers can choose from. The market statistics tell me what is happening in that particular area. The house itself tells me where it belongs within that range.

Put all of that together and I arrive at the number I'm prepared to recommend, backed by actual market data rather than what I think you want to hear.

The Market Doesn't Care What You Need

This is probably the least popular part of the conversation.

Your mortgage balance doesn't determine market value. Neither does what you paid for the house, what you've spent renovating it, or how much money you need from the sale to buy your next home.

Those things absolutely matter to you, and they're important when deciding whether selling makes financial sense. But they don't change what a buyer is willing to pay.

I've had sellers tell me another agent said their house was worth considerably more than my analysis showed.

Could that agent be right and I be wrong? Absolutely.

I'm a Realtor®, not Moses coming down the mountain with your property's market value carved into a stone tablet.

But I can show you exactly how I arrived at my number. And if someone else's number is significantly higher, I'd want to see the sales and market data supporting it.

Because promising someone the highest price at the kitchen table is easy.

Selling the house for it is the part that counts.

The Bottom Line

Pricing a home isn't about finding the biggest number we can possibly justify and hoping somebody eventually pays it. It's about finding the number where the property, the neighbourhood and the current market intersect.

You want buyers paying attention while the listing is fresh. You want showings. You want interest. Ideally, you want more than one person deciding they want the same house, because that's where sellers get leverage.

Not three months later after two price reductions and thirty-seven conversations about why nobody is making an offer.

If you're thinking about selling, I'll run the actual numbers and show you exactly what I'm seeing.

You may love the number. You may hate the number. But at least it'll be based on the market instead of hope.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson, REALTOR®, eXp Realty

This is one of those real estate questions where you can ask five people and somehow get six answers.

“Yes, sellers have to fill one out.”

“Nope, buyer beware. Sellers don't have to disclose anything.”

Both answers are usually delivered with impressive confidence, which unfortunately has never been a reliable indicator that something is actually true.

The real answer sits somewhere in the middle. The Residential Property Disclosure Statement, or RPDS, is not legally mandatory for every residential sale in New Brunswick. A seller can choose not to complete one. But before anybody gets too excited and interprets that as “excellent, I don't have to tell anyone anything,” there are some fairly important details worth understanding.

THE FORM ISN'T MANDATORY, BUT THAT'S NOT THE WHOLE ANSWER

New Brunswick's standard Agreement of Purchase and Sale specifically recognizes that a seller may or may not provide a current RPDS. Clause 10 gives the seller the option of indicating whether they WILL or WILL NOT provide one as part of the transaction.

I didn't want to rely on the usual real estate version of legal research, which is basically “I'm pretty sure somebody told me this once,” so before writing this I spoke directly with the Director of Education at the New Brunswick Real Estate Association. The answer was exactly what I suspected: the RPDS itself isn't mandatory.

The guidance to agents, however, is pretty straightforward. DISCLOSE, DISCLOSE, DISCLOSE! 

Sellers should be encouraged to disclose what they actually know, answer honestly, and where they genuinely don't know the answer to something, say so rather than guess.

So if somebody tells you every seller in New Brunswick is legally required to complete an RPDS, that's not accurate. But choosing not to complete the form does not magically exempt a seller from the laws surrounding misrepresentation, concealment or certain known defects.

The form is optional. Honesty isn't.

NEW BRUNSWICK IS STILL A BUYER BEWARE PROVINCE, MOSTLY

New Brunswick generally operates under the common-law principle of caveat emptor, which is Latin for “buyer beware.” Apparently unpleasant legal concepts sound considerably more civilized if you say them in Latin.

The basic principle is that buyers are responsible for doing their own due diligence. They're expected to inspect the property, ask questions and satisfy themselves with what they're buying. Sellers generally aren't required to point out defects that are plainly visible and reasonably discoverable by the buyer.

Those are known as patent defects.

A visibly cracked window, an obviously tired roof, damaged siding, or a deck that moves enough under your feet to make you suddenly rediscover religion are examples of things a buyer can reasonably observe.  You've got eyes. Your home inspector, hopefully, has better ones.  Caveat emptor generally puts the responsibility on the buyer to identify those types of problems before buying. Things become considerably more interesting when the problem isn't something you can reasonably see.

LATENT DEFECTS ARE WHERE THINGS CHANGE

A latent defect is a defect that wouldn't ordinarily be discovered during a reasonable inspection. It's the stuff hiding behind walls, underneath floors, inside systems or somewhere else a buyer couldn't reasonably be expected to find during the normal buying process.

This is where the seller's actual knowledge becomes important.

A good New Brunswick example is Duplessis v. Harrison. The buyers purchased a four-unit apartment building and later discovered extensive wood rot underneath it. The court found that the seller knew about the rot before the sale and that it was a substantial latent defect that should have been disclosed. The seller ended up responsible for the repair costs.  That's a pretty important distinction.

There is a large difference between:

• A seller genuinely not knowing a hidden problem exists.

• A seller knowing about a serious hidden problem and saying nothing.

• A seller actively doing something to prevent the buyer from discovering it.

Those are not the same situation legally, even though somebody somewhere will inevitably reduce all three of them to “buyer beware.”  So no, declining to complete an RPDS does not create some magical force field around everything the seller already knows.

YOU STILL CAN'T ACTIVELY HIDE A PROBLEM

There's another line sellers really don't want to cross, and that's actively concealing something.  Painting over a water stain without addressing the leak, covering a significant crack specifically so buyers won't see it, closing a wall over known mould or taking some other deliberate step to prevent a buyer from discovering a problem is very different from simply failing to volunteer information.  

Drywall is not a legal strategy.

Neither is paint.

If you're deliberately trying to prevent someone from discovering a defect you already know exists, you're moving away from a simple disclosure question and toward active concealment or potentially fraud. That's a much uglier conversation to have after closing.

IF A BUYER ASKS A DIRECT QUESTION, ANSWER TRUTHFULLY

Let's say the seller declines to complete an RPDS. Fine. They're entitled to do that.  Then the buyer's agent sends a written question asking, “Has the basement ever flooded?”  The seller knows it flooded twice in the last four years.

At that point, “No” isn't one of the available answers.

Once a seller makes a representation, whether that's on an RPDS, in an email, through their REALTOR® or in another written response, a buyer may rely on that representation. If the answer is knowingly false or misleading, the fact that the seller declined to complete an RPDS isn't going to make the false statement disappear.

Choosing not to fill out the form gets you out of filling out that particular form.  It doesn't give you permission to make things up afterward.  I wish that distinction didn't need explaining, but real estate has taught me never to underestimate the creative interpretation of a simple sentence.

AND IF YOU DO COMPLETE ONE, ANSWER IT PROPERLY

The RPDS is not a home inspection. It isn't a warranty that nothing will ever go wrong with the house, and it certainly isn't a certificate declaring the property perfect until the end of time.  It's a disclosure of what the seller actually knows about the property at the time they complete it.

Nothing more mystical than that.

If you know there was a problem, say so. If it was repaired, say that too. If you've got invoices, receipts, warranties, reports or documentation showing what was done, provide them. “Here's the invoice from the contractor who repaired it” carries considerably more weight than “Don't worry, Bob looked after it.”

If you don't genuinely know the answer to something, say “unknown.”  That's not avoiding the question. It's answering it accurately.  What I don't want sellers doing is staring at a question for ten minutes trying to engineer the least damaging possible version of a yes, or guessing because they think every box needs a confident answer. An honest “I don't know” is considerably safer than a confident answer somebody pulled out of thin air because an empty box made them nervous.

A CLEAN RPDS DOESN'T MEAN A PERFECT HOUSE

This works both ways.  Buyers shouldn't receive an RPDS with every box neatly completed and decide they can skip their own due diligence. The disclosure statement tells you what the seller knows. A home inspection is intended to help identify the things the seller may not know.

Those are two completely different jobs.

If a defect exists but the seller genuinely had no knowledge of it, the mere existence of the problem doesn't automatically mean the seller misrepresented anything. That's very different from Duplessis, where the court found the seller actually knew about the hidden rot.

This is exactly why I don't treat an RPDS as a substitute for a home inspection, and neither should a buyer.  One tells you what the seller knows.  The other helps you figure out what's actually there.

REFUSING AN RPDS ISN'T AUTOMATICALLY A RED FLAG

I also wouldn't automatically assume a seller is hiding something simply because they decline to complete an RPDS.  There are plenty of legitimate situations where the seller may know very little about the property. An estate may be selling a house where the people handling the sale never lived there. A landlord may have owned a rental for years without ever occupying it. An investor may simply not know the detailed history of every system in the building.  In those situations, a disclosure statement could end up containing more “unknown” answers than useful information anyway.

So “seller will not provide an RPDS” doesn't automatically mean there's a body buried under the shed.

But if I'm representing the buyer, it does mean I'm probably asking more questions, not fewer.

THE AGREEMENT OF PURCHASE AND SALE CAN CHANGE THIS

Here's another part that's easy to overlook.  The province may not require a seller to provide an RPDS, but the contract can.  Clause 10 of the standard New Brunswick Agreement of Purchase and Sale allows the seller to indicate whether they WILL or WILL NOT provide a current RPDS, and if they agree to provide one, the contract establishes a deadline for doing it.  Once the seller checks WILL and signs the agreement, “the province doesn't require me to provide one” isn't particularly helpful anymore.

You signed a contract saying you would.

Nobody forced the obligation on you. You volunteered for it, put it in writing and attached a deadline to it.  Contracts have an annoying habit of remembering those things.  The clause also gives the buyer an opportunity to review the disclosure statement and, depending on the wording and deadlines in the agreement, terminate if they aren't satisfied with what they receive.  That's why I don't treat Clause 10 like some meaningless checkbox everyone blows past on the way to the purchase price.

Words in contracts occasionally matter. Who knew?

REALTORS® HAVE THEIR OWN OBLIGATIONS

This is another important piece because a seller's obligations and a REALTOR®'s professional obligations aren't necessarily identical.

CREA's REALTOR® Code requires REALTORS® to make reasonable efforts to discover facts about a property that a prudent REALTOR® would discover in order to avoid error or misrepresentation. It also specifically says a REALTOR® shall not be party to an agreement intended to conceal facts pertaining to a property.

So if a seller tells their agent, “The basement floods every spring, but I'm not filling out the disclosure statement, so don't tell anybody,” that isn't where the REALTOR® says, “Brilliant. You've cracked the code.”

There isn't a code.

That's where the agent's own professional obligations kick in. Depending on the circumstances, the managing broker needs to become involved and the seller may need legal advice about what must be disclosed.  Representing your client's interests is part of the job.  Helping somebody conceal or misrepresent their property most definitely isn't.

WHAT I ACTUALLY TELL MY SELLERS

Every property is different, but the basic advice isn't terribly complicated: answer based on what you genuinely know, disclose things honestly and don't guess simply because you think the paperwork looks better with every box filled in.  If you've lived in the property for twenty or thirty years, you're naturally going to know considerably more about it than somebody selling an investment property they've never occupied.  If you've never lived there, maybe it's a rental property, an estate or an investment, you're naturally going to have more unknowns. That's fine.

My general approach is:

• If you know about an issue, disclose it.

• If it was repaired, explain what was done.

• If you have invoices, warranties, reports or receipts, provide them.

• If a tenant previously reported a problem and you dealt with it, that's information you know.

• If you genuinely don't know the answer, say “unknown.”

• Don't guess in either direction just because you think one answer looks better than another.

The goal isn't to make the form look perfect.  The goal is to make it accurate.

And if the answer starts getting complicated enough that we're debating legal liability rather than filling out a disclosure form, that's when I stop pretending to be a lawyer and tell you to speak with one. I already have enough paperwork in my own profession.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Residential Property Disclosure Statement is not legally mandatory for every residential sale in New Brunswick. A seller can decline to complete one.  What a seller can't safely do is treat that decision as permission to knowingly conceal a substantial latent defect, actively hide a problem or make a false statement when asked about the property.  And buyers shouldn't treat an RPDS as proof that a house is problem-free either. It is one piece of the due diligence process, not a replacement for the rest of it.

The cleanest way I can put it is this:  The form is optional. Honesty isn't.

If you're getting ready to list a property anywhere around Greater Moncton and you're not sure what belongs on the RPDS, what should be marked unknown or whether something needs to be disclosed at all, that's exactly the conversation worth having before the listing goes live, not after an offer is sitting on the kitchen table.

And when the answer starts touching actual legal liability, that's a conversation for your lawyer.  Not Facebook, your neighbour or somebody's cousin who sold a house in 1997 and has apparently been practicing real estate law ever since.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson, REALTOR®
eXp Realty

On every file I write an offer on, rural, in-town, doesn't matter, I pull the GeoNB information and review the PID and PAN data myself before I let a client get too emotionally attached to anything. Not because I'm thorough for sport. Because public property information isn't infallible. Mapping is approximate, information can lag, and every once in a while something shows up that makes you stop and say, “Well...that's interesting.”

I'd rather have that moment before conditions are removed than three days before closing when everybody suddenly starts using the phrase, “we have a bit of an issue.”

Most buyers have never seen a PID or PAN report, and if we're being completely candid, a fair number of people in the industry don't spend much time reading them either. Your lawyer ultimately does the actual legal title work, and nothing I'm talking about here replaces that. But waiting until the lawyer's title search to learn everything there is to know about the property? That's not my idea of due diligence. That's hoping.

So let's break down what these reports are, what they tell you, what they don't tell you, and one little field on a PAN report that can potentially represent up to 15 years of deferred property taxes. Because that one deserves considerably more attention than it usually gets.

Two Different Reports, Two Different Jobs

People sometimes use PID and PAN like they're interchangeable. They're not. That's a little like using “mortgage” and “home insurance” interchangeably. Same house, completely different problem.

A PID, or Parcel Identifier, is the unique number assigned to a specific parcel of land in New Brunswick. Within the province's land registry system, that PID connects you to information indexed to that parcel, including ownership information, registered documents, plans and parcel relationships. Think of the PID as the property's government-issued identity.

A PAN, or Property Account Number, belongs to the assessment and taxation side of things. It connects the property to information such as assessed value, tax class, assessment history and tax levy information. Same dirt, two different jobs.

Most properties have both, and the information often cross-references, but they aren't interchangeable. The PID side helps you understand the parcel and the registered information attached to it. The PAN side helps you understand how the province assesses and taxes it. I want to see both.

What a PID Report Actually Shows You

At the top you'll normally find the housekeeping stuff: PID, status, county, parish, civic address if there is one, land description and area. Useful information, especially when you're dealing with rural property where the listing description, civic address and actual parcel don't always line up quite as neatly as you'd hope.

But the section that usually gets most of my attention is the registered documents. Think of it as the property's rap sheet. The instruments indexed to that parcel can tell you an awful lot about its history, and every once in a while they raise a question that's worth asking before anyone gets too far down the road.

Deeds and Transfers

A Deed or Deed/Transfer generally tells you that ownership changed hands. Pretty straightforward, but dates matter. If the ownership history I'm seeing doesn't seem to match the story I'm being told, I want to know why.

That doesn't automatically mean something is wrong. It means we ask the question. There's a difference between finding a red flag and finding something that deserves another look. Not everything unusual is a problem, but ignoring unusual things is a pretty efficient way of eventually finding one.

Mortgages and Discharges

A Mortgage means a lender registered an interest against the property. A Discharge generally means that mortgage was subsequently paid out and released. Basically the financial equivalent of finally deleting your ex's number.

If I see an older mortgage without an obvious corresponding discharge, I'm not immediately running into the street screaming that the deal is dead. I'm making a note of it and asking the appropriate person to confirm what's going on. That's really the point of reading these reports: spot the thing, ask the question and let the proper professional confirm the answer.

Agreements

An Agreement means some type of agreement has been registered relating to the land. It could involve access, rights between neighbouring properties, a right of way or something completely different.

The report tells you the document exists. It does not necessarily tell you everything that's inside it. If the agreement could matter to the buyer, somebody needs to actually pull and read the underlying document. Wild concept, I know.

Land Titles First Application, First Order and First Notice

You'll often see these grouped together around the same date. These generally relate to the property's conversion from New Brunswick's older Registry system into the modern Land Titles system.

This is especially common with rural properties that weren't converted until much later. Seeing those documents isn't automatically a red flag. Sometimes it's just evidence that government paperwork eventually caught up with the dirt.

Revenue Canada Judgment

This one gets my attention. A Revenue Canada Judgment can indicate that CRA has taken enforcement action involving unpaid federal tax debt. Depending on what has been registered, the property may be encumbered until the matter is properly dealt with.

That does not automatically mean the property can't be sold, but it does mean I want the lawyer looking at it. I'd personally rather discover something like that while everybody still has time to deal with it than during closing week when your lawyer calls and starts the conversation with, “So...there's something on title.”

Those are rarely the opening words to a relaxing afternoon.

Notice of Tax Sale

This is one where the wording matters. A Notice of Tax Sale does not mean the property has already been sold at a tax sale. It means the province has started the process of offering the property for sale because the property taxes have remained unpaid.

If the property actually goes to tax sale and sells, the purchaser receives a Tax Sale Certificate. The former owner then generally has 30 days from the date of the sale to redeem the property by paying the amount required. If the property isn't redeemed during that period, the tax deed process can follow.

So if I see tax-sale history on a PID report, I don't assume the Notice means somebody actually lost the property. I also don't shrug and move on. I ask what happened next.

Withdrawals

A Withdrawal of Other Documents generally means something previously registered has been withdrawn or cancelled. That's useful. It's also not terribly satisfying if you don't know what was withdrawn.

Think of the report saying, “Don't worry, we removed something.”

Fantastic. What?

That's where you keep digging.

Subdivision and Amalgamation Plans

These help explain how a parcel was created, divided, combined or reshaped. If you see a Related PID identified as a parent parcel, that's often the larger original property the current parcel came from.

This can be especially useful when you're staring at a rural lot shaped like somebody designed it during an earthquake.

What a PAN Report Actually Shows You

The PAN report is usually less dramatic, but this is where the money starts showing up.

You'll normally see property-description information, tax classification, assessed value and tax-related information. You'll also see assessment history alongside the tax levies for those years. That gives you a quick look at how the assessed value and taxes have been changing.

Normal gradual increases? Fine. A strange spike or drop? Now I want to know why.

It doesn't automatically mean something sinister happened. Maybe there was a renovation. Maybe land was subdivided. Maybe the tax classification changed. Maybe assessment caught up with a change to the property. Again, see something weird, ask the question. You'll notice a theme developing here.

Sales Price Information

The public assessment information also gives you previous sale prices, but there are a couple of limitations worth understanding.

New Brunswick's Property Assessment Online system publishes available sale-price information for properties sold after January 1, 2009. It also isn't instantaneous. Service New Brunswick advises allowing roughly 30 days after closing for a sale price to appear.

So if you know a property recently sold but the transaction isn't showing yet, that doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. The government's database doesn't update itself the second somebody hands over the keys. Apparently even computers working for government need a coffee break.

And Then There's FLIP

This is the field I wish more buyers knew enough to look for: the Farm Land Identification Program, or FLIP.

FLIP is a New Brunswick property-tax program for qualifying agricultural land and farm buildings. One of the major benefits is that certain property taxes can be deferred while the property remains eligible for the program.

The important word there is deferred. Deferred does not mean forgiven. It means there can be a tax liability sitting quietly in the background, and depending on what happens with the property later, somebody may eventually have to deal with it.

Why FLIP Matters to a Buyer

For qualifying property, FLIP can defer taxes for up to 15 years. As new years are added, older years drop off so that generally no more than 15 years of deferred taxes are carried at one time. Associated interest is also calculated, although the interest payable is capped at 50% of the applicable deferred taxes.

Here's where buyers need to pay attention. If a property is deregistered because its use changes in a way that makes it ineligible for FLIP, the deferred taxes and applicable interest can become payable, potentially going back as far as 15 years.

That's not a typo, and it's why seeing FLIP on a PAN report shouldn't be treated as some random government notation nobody needs to understand.

But there's an important distinction here because not every change automatically results in the same outcome.

Changing Status Is Different From Deregistration

New Brunswick's FLIP rules also provide for something called “changing status.”

For property registered in the program after 1997, changing status may be available in specific circumstances, including where farmland reverts to forest, where the land is intentionally reforested, or where a qualifying farm outbuilding becomes incapable of agricultural use because of lack of maintenance.

This isn't something an owner simply declares. It has to meet the program requirements and be approved by the FLIP Registrar.

When approved, the property begins paying regular current property taxes while the taxes that had already been deferred remain deferred. Under the current post-1997 changing-status rules, if the property remains compliant in that status for 15 years, it is removed from the program and those previously deferred taxes are no longer payable.

If it gets deregistered before completing that process, however, some or all of the remaining deferred liability can become payable.

That's an important distinction. So seeing FLIP does not automatically mean, “Change anything and you're getting a 15-year tax bill tomorrow.” But it absolutely does mean, “Don't start changing things until you know exactly what the consequences are.”

If I'm representing somebody buying FLIP property, particularly somebody who plans to clear land, subdivide it, build on it or otherwise change its use, I want the FLIP status and potential liability confirmed before conditions disappear. In fact, New Brunswick's regulations allow an owner to apply to the Registrar for a determination on whether a proposed use could result in deregistration.

That seems like a considerably better option than guessing.

Because buying 30 acres with dreams of clearing five of them for the garage you've always wanted, only to discover afterward that your brilliant plan has property-tax consequences, is a shitty way to learn about agricultural tax policy.

Find out first.

What Happens if the Property Is Sold?

A sale doesn't necessarily mean the deferred taxes immediately become payable either. A purchaser who intends to continue qualifying the property under FLIP may be able to assume the deferred taxes and associated interest as a contingent liability.

Again, this is not something I'd make assumptions about from a listing description or a conversation at the kitchen table. I'd be confirming it with the FLIP Registrar and, where appropriate, the buyer's lawyer before removing conditions.

The purpose here isn't to become an expert in agricultural taxation. It's to know enough to recognize when you need one.

GeoNB Maps Are Not a Survey

This deserves its own section because I see people do this constantly.

GeoNB is incredibly useful. I use it all the time. But those nice parcel lines on your computer screen are not the same thing as a legal survey. The province itself describes measurements in the mapping system as rough representations and warns that they do not produce accurate boundary coordinates.

So when somebody points at a GeoNB line and says, “Yep, the property line is definitely right there,” no. It definitely isn't. It's approximately there according to the mapping.

If an exact boundary matters because you're building something, installing a fence, questioning a driveway, dealing with waterfront access or arguing with your neighbour over who owns the tree you've both hated for 12 years, that's surveyor territory.

GeoNB doesn't move survey pins, and your Realtor's finger pointing at an iPad definitely doesn't establish a legal boundary.

How to Pull This Information Yourself

For a quick first look, New Brunswick's Property Assessment Online system is free. You can search by civic address, PAN or PID and see the current assessed value, assessment values dating back four years, tax levy information and available recent sale prices.

It's a fantastic first pass and there's really no reason not to look.

For more complete land-registry information, including current ownership, registered documents, plans and historical registry information, there's PLANET, Service New Brunswick's land-registry system.

PLANET isn't free, but the cost isn't exactly going to bankrupt anybody. As of 2026, transactional access is $1 per query with a $10 monthly minimum for an active account, while the unlimited subscription option is $65 per month.

Yes, I have an account. Apparently I enjoy looking through government land records more often than a normal person should.

Your lawyer will ultimately perform the appropriate legal title work during a real estate transaction, and that distinction matters. Reading a PID report yourself is not the same thing as conducting a legal title search, and it doesn't replace the lawyer.

I'm not trying to practice law. I have enough paperwork already.

The point is to catch things early. If I can identify a judgment, tax-sale history, strange ownership sequence, registered agreement, FLIP enrollment, unusual parcel history or something else that deserves a second look before we write an offer or while conditions are still open, we have time to get the right person involved.

That's very different from discovering it when everybody's furniture is packed and somebody already booked the moving truck.

A Note for Fellow Agents

If you've never looked at the PID and PAN information on one of your listings before, particularly rural property, I'd start.

You don't need to become a title searcher, and you shouldn't become one. That's what lawyers are for. But understanding enough to recognize when something looks unusual is part of understanding the property you're selling.

If there's a CRA judgment sitting there, a tax-sale history, FLIP enrollment, an unusual parent parcel or an agreement you don't understand, I'd rather know about it before my client's lawyer, the buyer's lawyer and the buyer's agent all discover it simultaneously.

There's nothing quite like standing beside your client while somebody else explains their own property to them. Not exactly the professional look we're going for.

And this isn't only a rural-property thing. I look at this information on in-town properties too. Rural deals may give you more interesting parcel histories, but judgments, mortgages, agreements, ownership issues and other registered documents don't suddenly stop existing when you hit city limits.

The Bottom Line

Listing photos show you a property having its best day. PID and PAN information tell you some of the stuff that happened when nobody was taking pictures.

Neither gives you every answer. Neither replaces your lawyer, a surveyor, an accountant, the FLIP Registrar or another professional when their expertise is needed. But they can tell you which questions you should be asking.

And five or ten minutes spent asking the right question early can save an unbelievable amount of grief later.

If you're looking at property anywhere around Greater Moncton, rural, in-town or along the coast, and something on the PID or PAN information doesn't make sense, send it to me. I'd much rather help you figure it out before you write the offer than after you've fallen in love with the house, planned where the couch is going and mentally moved in.  And if that property's on a well instead of municipal water, New Brunswick Well Water: What Every Buyer Should Know is worth five more minutes before you get that far.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson, REALTOR®
eXp Realty

I got into real estate because I had terrible realtors. I bring that up again here because well water is one of those topics where I watch good buyers accept whatever they're told, or worse, whatever they read in a comment section, instead of asking one more question. And I can't stand it.

So let's talk about wells. Specifically, why so many buyers who look at a rural or small-town property around here react to the word "well" the way most people react to finding out a used car was in a flood.

I bring up newcomers because that's usually who I watch glaze over first, someone relocating to Greater Moncton from Ontario or Alberta for the lower property taxes and the extra privacy, then the word "well" comes up and their whole expression changes. But I'd be doing you a disservice if I made this sound like a newcomer problem, because it isn't one. Plenty of people who've lived in New Brunswick their entire lives grew up on municipal water same as anyone else, and city water is city water whether you grew up here or moved here last year. If you've never personally been responsible for your own water supply, this is for you, no matter how long you've had a New Brunswick address.

WHY PEOPLE PANIC ABOUT WELLS

If you've only ever had municipal water, the first time someone tells you a house you love "has a well," it probably sounds less like a real estate detail and more like the setup to a horror movie. Somewhere on the internet is a video of someone's water coming out looking like a double-double from the drive-thru, and that one video has apparently convinced a lot of people, transplants and lifelong Maritimers alike, that every rural well is one bad day away from a science experiment.

Here's the thing though. That fear isn't really about wells. It's about the unknown. You've never owned one, never maintained one, and nobody's ever explained how any of it actually works, so your brain fills the gap with the worst version it can imagine. That's a completely normal reaction. It's also not a reason to walk away from a good property, it's a reason to actually learn the thing.

THE PART NOBODY TELLS YOU: THE BENEFITS

Nobody selling you on municipal water is going to tell you what you're giving up, so I will.

When you're on a well, you don't get a monthly water bill. Ever. That's not a small thing over the life of owning a home. You're also not affected when a water main breaks somewhere across town and half the city ends up under a boil water advisory for a week, that's happened here, and it will happen again, and if you're on a well it simply isn't your problem. A lot of people who've lived on well water for years will also tell you it tastes better, no municipal chlorine, and depending on your local geology, a naturally higher mineral content that a lot of people genuinely prefer once they get used to it.

You're also in control. Nobody upstream of you can quietly change treatment chemicals, adjust chlorine levels, or make a decision about your water supply without asking you, because there's no "upstream." It's yours. That's a real trade worth putting on the table before you decide a well is automatically a downgrade.

None of that means a well is maintenance-free, or that every well is fine. It means the fear and the benefit are both real, and you deserve to hear about both before you make a decision based on one video you saw once.

WHAT'S ACTUALLY IN NEW BRUNSWICK GROUNDWATER

Now the part that actually matters, because I'm not going to pretend there's nothing to check.

Arsenic occurs naturally in bedrock and soil throughout New Brunswick, and depending on your specific property, it can show up in well water at levels worth knowing about. So can uranium. Both are naturally occurring, not pollution, not somebody's fault, just what's in the ground in parts of this province. The provincial guideline for arsenic is 0.01 milligrams per litre, and the risk is specifically from drinking or cooking with the water over a long period, not from showering in it or watering your garden with it. That distinction matters and it rarely makes it into the panic version of this conversation.

If a test comes back high, you're not stuck. Treatment systems using reverse osmosis, anion exchange, or distillation are all effective and well understood. The one thing that doesn't work, and can actually make arsenic worse, is boiling the water. That myth needs to die.

HOW TESTING ACTUALLY WORKS ONCE YOU OWN IT

This is the entire fix for the fear: you don't have to guess. You test. This part is about maintaining a well you already own, the purchase itself works a bit differently, more on that below.

New Brunswick's public health guidance recommends testing for bacteria (total coliform and E. coli) roughly twice a year, typically after spring thaw and again in the fall, and testing for the inorganics, arsenic, uranium, fluoride, nitrates, every two to three years, since those accumulate naturally in groundwater rather than showing up overnight. If you notice a change in taste, smell, or colour, that's your cue to test sooner, not wait for the calendar.

Sample kits are available through Service New Brunswick or RPC Analytical Services, which has a location right here in Moncton, so this isn't a send-it-away-and-wait-a-month situation. A basic bacteria test is inexpensive, often well under fifty dollars. A fuller panel covering the inorganics runs more, budget somewhere in the low hundreds, though I'd call RPC directly for current pricing rather than trust a number sitting in any blog post, mine included. If the well was recently drilled, most well contractors include a testing voucher for the first year, worth checking before you pay for anything.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS DURING A PURCHASE

Here's where I'll save you from some of the generic advice floating around online, because what actually gets tested on a real deal here, and how strict it is, is different from what you'll read in a general homebuying article.

Our standard Agreement of Purchase and Sale in New Brunswick has an actual clause for this, a Water Test condition, and the potability side of it isn't a soft suggestion. The standard is zero: zero E. coli, zero coliform. Not "low," not "trace amounts," zero. If the well doesn't come back clean, the clause gives the buyer the right to walk away entirely by a set date, and in practice, results usually come back within about 24 hours, so this rarely holds a deal up for long.

The same clause has a second box for additional criteria, chemical and mineral, which covers things like arsenic and uranium. That part is genuinely up to the buyer. It's not automatic, and I recommend it on every well property I write an offer on, but it's a decision you make, not something that happens by default. The trade-off is time: those lab results can take up to ten days, noticeably longer than the potability results, so if you want that box checked, build that extra time into your condition period from the start rather than discovering on day eight that you're still waiting on a lab.

A flow test, whether the well physically produces enough water to run a household, gets mentioned constantly in general articles as if it's a standard third test. In fifteen years of doing this, I have never once had a flow test done on a deal. That doesn't mean it's useless, in the right situation, a genuinely marginal-looking well on a larger rural property, it's a legitimate thing to ask for, but it is not part of a typical purchase here the way the Water Test clause is. Don't let a generic checklist convince you that you're skipping a standard step. You're not.

MAINTENANCE REALITY CHECK

Owning a well is not a part-time job. It's closer to owning a furnace than owning a boat. There's a cap and casing that need to stay sealed and intact, a pump and pressure tank that have a normal service life like any other mechanical system in your house, and if you end up needing a treatment system, that needs its own regular maintenance and periodic retesting to confirm it's still doing its job. None of that is exotic. It's routine home ownership, just a different routine than the one you're used to.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A well isn't a red flag. It's a system, and like every system in a house, it deserves a real look instead of a reflex. Test it, understand what the results actually mean, budget for the maintenance like you would anything else, and you'll probably end up liking not having a water bill more than you expected to.

If you're looking at a property with a well and want a second set of eyes on what the test results actually mean before you waive a condition, that's exactly the kind of question I'd rather you ask me before closing than after.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson, REALTOR®, eXp Realty

Book a showing with the listing agent on a new build in Greater Moncton and you will be met by someone who knows the product cold. They will walk you through every room, answer every question, and make the whole thing feel very straightforward.

You are in the builder's hands. That is not the same as having your own.

THE SHORT ANSWER

You do not need a buyer's agent to tour a new build listing or ask questions. But when you are ready to put an offer on that home, yes. Get your own. Here is the part nobody explains.

THE BUILDER'S REP IS GOOD AT THEIR JOB

Their job is to sell you that home at the builder's price, with the builder's terms, on the builder's timeline. They know the product cold. They are not going to lie to you.

They are also not going to tell you when the upgrade package is marked up. Not going to flag the clause in the purchase agreement that lets the builder push your closing date back. Not going to suggest you bring in an independent inspector during the build. Not going to advocate for you when something goes sideways.

Because they work for the other side. That is not a character flaw. That is their job.

Not long ago I was working with clients who were referred to me just before Christmas. We found a resale home they liked, lined everything up, and got to inspection day. The inspector found major foundation issues. The kind that do not show up in photos but show up in invoices later.

They had two choices: move forward and hope for the best, or step back and make the right call. They walked.

From there we pivoted to new construction. Same budget. Better outcome: warranty protection, modern efficiencies, lower maintenance costs, peace of mind.

Here is the part that matters for this conversation: we brought in an independent inspector on the new build too. Two pages of items the trades had missed during the build. The builder was excellent to work with and got everything on that list addressed before closing. They closed happy.

The builder's team was professional throughout. They also worked for the builder throughout. Both things are true. Having representation and an independent inspector is what made sure my clients' interests were protected while the builder's team was protecting the builder's.

WHAT HAVING YOUR OWN AGENT ACTUALLY MEANS

It means someone reviews the purchase agreement before you sign it. Builder contracts are written by the builder's lawyers. Some of what is in there very much favours the builder. An extra set of eyes before you are committed is not paranoia. It is the minimum.

It means negotiating the parts that actually move. The list price on a new build is often firm. Upgrades, closing dates, and certain features sometimes are not. You do not know which is which until someone asks.

It means an independent inspection at the right stage. A pre-closing walkthrough catches deficiencies while the builder still has an obligation to fix them. That window closes at possession.

It means keeping a record of what you were promised. Spec changes happen. Materials get substituted. Items disappear between signing and closing. Someone who documented the original agreement is the difference between a conversation and a dispute.

It means confirming the warranty. New builds in NB can be covered by a third-party new-home warranty program such as Atlantic Home Warranty or LUX Home Warranty, but coverage is not automatic. The builder needs to participate in a warranty program and the specific home needs to be registered. Ask exactly what warranty comes with the home, who provides it, and what it actually covers before you fall in love with the finishes.

IT DOES NOT COST YOU MORE

Builders build agent commissions into the sale price whether a buyer's agent is involved or not. If you go in unrepresented, that money stays with the builder. You do not get a discount for going in alone.

Most buyers do not know this. Going unrepresented does not save you anything. It just means nobody is looking out for your side of the table.

THE ONE THING NEW BUILDS HAVE THAT RESALE DOES NOT

HST. And most buyers misunderstand how it works on a new build.

In virtually every new construction contract in Greater Moncton, the purchase price is calculated assuming the home will be your primary residence. The federal HST rebate and any applicable NB Power grant are assigned to the builder at closing and already baked into the price you see advertised. The buyer does not handle those directly.

Here is where it gets important: if you are buying that new build as an investment property, a rental, or a secondary home, you do not qualify for the HST rebate. The contract was written assuming primary residence status. Without that rebate, the real cost of the home is meaningfully higher than the price on the page.

Most investors looking at new builds in Dieppe or Riverview see the advertised number and budget around it. The rebate disqualification does not come up until someone actually reads the contract. By then some of them have already mentally spent the money.

Your own agent reads the contract before that happens. That is the whole point.

If you want to know what the real numbers look like on a specific new build as an investment property, send me the address. I will walk through it with you before you commit to anything. Maxime Bourgeois at Bourgeois Chiasson Avocats in Memramcook handles closings across Greater Moncton and can confirm the exact tax implications for your situation.

THE QUESTIONS I GET ASKED

Can the builder's rep answer my questions honestly?

On most things, yes. They know the product better than almost anyone. The gap is the moment your interests and the builder's interests stop being the same thing. That is when you need someone whose only job is to protect you.

Does having a buyer's agent slow down the process?

No. Working with buyer's agents is standard for builders in Greater Moncton. It does not complicate anything.

I've already toured a new build. Can I still bring in my own agent?

Yes, as long as you haven't signed anything. In Greater Moncton, new builds are listed on MLS through the builder's own listing agent or a private sale service. You book a showing the same way you would a resale. If you've toured without representation, you can still bring your own agent in before you put pen to paper. Do it before anything is in writing.

Is there always a warranty on a new build here?

Not automatically. Ask before you assume. Find out which program covers the home, whether the specific unit is registered, and what the coverage actually includes.

If you are relocating to Greater Moncton and trying to decide between a new build and a resale, the monthly market update has current pricing context across the region. Start there.

And if you want an agent who will tell you when a new build makes sense for your situation and when it does not: send me the address. I will walk through it with you before you commit to anything.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots. Smart Moves.
Shane MacPherson | REALTOR® | eXp Realty
506-852-6477 · movingwithmacpherson.com

There is a question that comes up on almost every call I get from out-of-province buyers considering a cottage near Shediac or a rental property in Moncton.

"Are the property taxes really that bad?"

The answer is: it depends entirely on whether that property is your principal residence. And most people asking the question don't know those two situations are taxed differently in New Brunswick. Very differently.

New Brunswick is the only province in Canada with this structure. Worth understanding before you run the numbers on a beach house.

THE SHORT VERSION

If the property is your principal residence, the provincial residential property tax is offset by the Residential Property Tax Credit. Most owner-occupied homeowners in Greater Moncton effectively pay only their municipal rate.

If the property is not your principal residence (a rental, a cottage, a second home, an investment property), you pay the municipal rate AND the provincial rate on top. That provincial rate is $0.5617 per $100 of assessed value, set under the Real Property Tax Act and confirmed by the Government of New Brunswick.

That is the double tax people talk about. It is not a myth, and it is not small.

WHAT IT ACTUALLY COSTS

The math is simple. Take the assessed value of the property, divide by 100, multiply by $0.5617. That is the extra provincial charge per year, on top of whatever the municipal rate is.

• On a $350,000 assessed property: roughly $1,966 per year extra.

• On a $400,000 assessed property: roughly $2,247 per year extra.

• On a $500,000 assessed property: roughly $2,809 per year extra.

Note the word "assessed." For the 2026 taxation year, New Brunswick froze the value for taxation at 2025 levels for many eligible properties. There are exceptions, including property transfers, new construction, major improvements, and changes in use. Confirm the assessed value applicable to your purchase with Service New Brunswick.

The municipal rate varies by area: Moncton, Shediac, Dieppe, and rural communities all have different rates. The provincial piece above is the constant. If you want to see what properties in each area are currently selling for before you run your numbers, the monthly market update breaks it down by community. Budget for all of it before you make an offer.

WHO THIS APPLIES TO

If any of these describe the property you are buying, you pay both the municipal rate and the provincial rate:

• A rental property (single unit, duplex, or otherwise)

• A vacation or seasonal property

• A second home you do not live in as your principal residence

• A property you own but rent out while living elsewhere

• A property sitting vacant

The simple test: is this where you actually live, full-time, as your principal address? If yes, you qualify for the Residential Property Tax Credit. If no, you pay both.

WHO THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO

If you are relocating to New Brunswick (leaving Ontario or Alberta behind and making this your actual home), the double tax does not apply to you. Qualifying principal residences receive the Residential Property Tax Credit. Your lawyer handles the paperwork at closing, but confirm your tax status with Service New Brunswick after possession.

This is the part that trips up relocators who hear "NB has a double property tax" and assume it applies to them. It does not, as long as the property they are buying is where they plan to actually live.

If you are moving here and still own property back in Ontario, that Ontario property continues under Ontario's rules. The NB property you move into becomes your principal residence and gets the credit here.

HOW THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE LAND TRANSFER TAX

These are two separate things and people confuse them constantly.

The land transfer tax in New Brunswick is 1% of the purchase price or the assessed value, whichever is higher. It is paid once, at closing, by the buyer. It applies regardless of whether the property is owner-occupied or not.

The non-owner-occupied provincial property tax is annual. It shows up on your property tax bill every year as long as the property is not your principal residence.

On a $400,000 purchase: the land transfer tax is roughly $4,000, paid once. The non-owner-occupied provincial tax is roughly $2,247 per year, every year. At a ten-year hold, that is $22,470 in additional provincial tax over the life of the investment, not counting any assessment increases.

Run both numbers before you decide this investment makes sense.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE SHEDIAC BEACH HOUSE

The Shediac short-term rental conversation comes up constantly right now, because Parlee Beach is real and the Airbnb income projections look good on paper. Here is where the double tax matters most.

If you are buying a cottage in Shediac as a short-term rental (meaning it is not your principal residence), you are paying both rates on that property every year. Add that to your carrying costs before you model the income. The people who get burned on cottage investments are almost always the ones who projected revenue without projecting every line of cost.

The double tax is one of several things that make a Shediac investment more complicated than the listing photos suggest. Zoning, coastal setbacks, and the actual permit picture for short-term rentals are the others. A separate post for another week.

THE QUESTIONS I GET ASKED MOST

Do I pay the higher rate if I move from Ontario to New Brunswick?

No. If the New Brunswick property becomes your principal residence, you generally qualify for the Residential Property Tax Credit. The higher provincial rate applies to properties that are not your principal residence.

Does buying a rental property here mean my taxes double?

Not exactly. You pay your municipal rate plus the provincial residential property tax that owner-occupied homes do not pay, which works out to roughly $0.5617 per $100 of assessed value. On a typical rental property in Greater Moncton that is a meaningful additional annual cost.

Can I change from non-owner-occupied to owner-occupied?

Yes. If you move into the property as your principal residence, your status can change once Service New Brunswick has the updated information. Your lawyer will normally handle this at closing if it applies to you.

CONFIRM YOUR OWN SITUATION

The rate confirmed here ($0.5617 per $100) is the provincial rate as set under the Real Property Tax Act, effective January 2023, and in effect for 2026. Municipal rates change annually, so your total bill depends on which area you are buying in.

To confirm your specific property's assessed value and estimated tax: Service New Brunswick property assessment.

For questions about how the credit applies to your situation, Service NB at 1-888-762-8600 is the right call. Confirming your tax status with a New Brunswick real estate lawyer before you close is also worth the ten minutes.

Thinking about buying a cottage, rental, or second home in New Brunswick? Send me the address. I'll estimate the carrying costs with you before you make an offer, including the property tax implications.

Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson | REALTOR® | eXp Realty 506-852-6477

One region. Four markets. Thirteen sub-markets. And the leaderboard just flipped.

On paper, the July 2026 CREA numbers describe a region that is boringly balanced. Zoom in one level and it is anything but. Dieppe, which spent June behaving like it was 2021, finally calmed down. Riverview quietly became the hottest urban market and forgot to tell anyone. And the coast pulled off the neatest trick in the report: Shediac town froze solid while Cap-Pelé had its best month in a year, two places a short drive apart doing the exact opposite.

Here is the whole thing, minus the fluff and minus the spin.

How the ratings work. Every area below gets a rating based on inventory, days on market, and how close sellers are getting to asking price:

• HOT: sellers in control, come prepared

• WARM: still favours sellers, but buyers can breathe

• BALANCED: fair fight

• COOLING: buyers gaining leverage

• COLD: buyers hold the cards, and they know it

• TOO SMALL TO RATE: fewer than 10 sales this month, and I won't pretend a handful of transactions is a trend

GREATER MONCTON AT A GLANCE: BALANCED

316 sales (down 5.1%) | Average $383,611 (down 0.5%) | Median $362,000 (up 2.0%) | 4.9 months of inventory | 38 days to sell | Sellers getting 97% of asking

More listings, slower pace, prices that went sideways. That is the regional story, and it is the least interesting part of this report. Active listings hit 1,558, so buyers have the most choice they have had in years. The sales-to-new-listings ratio sits at 55.5%, which is textbook balanced. Anyone who tells you "the Moncton market" is hot or cold as one single thing is either not paying attention or selling you something.

One number to watch: the MLS® HPI benchmark ($384,300) is up 6.1% on the year and up a rounding error (0.1%) for the month. Last month's scary one-month dip? Gone. One-month moves are noise. Ignore anyone building a doomsday out of thirty days of data.

MONCTON: COOLING

94 sales (down 16.1%) | Average $400,592 (up 4.6%) | Median $386,250 (up 8.8%) | 5.2 months of inventory | 36.5 days | 97.4% of asking

Still the slowest of the three urban markets. Sales down 16% from last July, inventory sitting above the regional average, and sellers giving up about $10,000 off list on a typical home. Prices are up year over year, so this is not a crash, it is a market that stopped rushing. A year ago you could not breathe in here. Now you can.

Moncton North: BALANCED 40 sales | Average $414,732 | 4.1 months | 39 days Busiest sub-market in the city, again. Prices flat to slightly soft year over year, but 40 sales in a month is not a demand problem.

Moncton East: BALANCED 27 sales | Average $409,033 | 5.1 months | 35 days The weird one. Inventory is up 28% from last year, yet whatever sells is getting 99.4% of asking and the median jumped 17%. Translation: priced right, it flies. Priced on hope, it sits and becomes the comp that makes the next seller look reasonable.

Moncton Center: COLD 26 sales | Average $366,439 | 7.0 months | 37 days 182 listings, 26 sales, 95% of asking, seven months of inventory. This is the buyer's market everyone keeps asking me if we have. We do. It has an address, and this is it.

Moncton West: TOO SMALL TO RATE 1 sale | Average $495,000 One sale is not a market. It is an anecdote.

Buying in Moncton: negotiate like you mean it, especially in Center. Selling: your comps are from the last 90 days, not from the summer of 2024 you keep quoting me.

DIEPPE: WARM

52 sales (down 5.5%) | Average $442,899 (up 7.9%) | Median $412,400 (up 15.0%) | 3.7 months of inventory | 38.5 days | 97.4% of asking

Dieppe finally got the memo. In June it ran hot with sales up 45% and acted like the rules did not apply to it. In July sales slipped, inventory climbed to 3.7 months, days on market stretched to 38, and it rejoined the rest of us. Still the priciest urban market, still healthy, just no longer sprinting. If June's bidding wars scared you off, this is a far more civilized room to shop in.

Dieppe Fox Creek: HOT 22 sales | Average $466,695 | 2.9 months | 37 days Tightest inventory in Dieppe at 2.9 months and 98.2% of asking. Still a seller's sub-market. It is just not the 19-day sprint it was in June, which is a polite way of saying the panic buying stopped.

Dieppe Chartersville: WARM 15 sales | Average $444,163 | 4.5 months | 25 days Called this one last month. I said the supply was coming and the window was now. The supply came: listings up 66%, inventory up to 4.5 months. What sells still sells in 25 days at 99% of asking, so the sellers who listed are fine. The ones still holding out for a better market are watching it walk the other way.

Dieppe Center: BALANCED 13 sales | Average $429,115 | 4.3 months | 39 days Softest sale-to-list in Dieppe at 95.6%. Buyers here have room, and unlike a year ago, they are actually using it.

Dieppe East: TOO SMALL TO RATE 2 sales | Average $261,250 Two sales. Next.

Buying in Dieppe: you have options and time you did not have in June, use both. Selling: presentation still matters at these prices. A buyer writing a $450,000 cheque expects $450,000 of house, not a promise and a fresh coat of "we'll get to that."

RIVERVIEW: HOT

36 sales (up 24.1%) | Average $405,521 (up 9.3%) | Median $364,250 (down 0.2%) | 2.3 months of inventory | 28.5 days | 98.3% of asking

While everyone was watching Dieppe cool off, Riverview quietly took over. Sales up 24% while most of the region slowed down. It sold 36 homes against 42 new listings and sits at 2.3 months of inventory, the tightest in Greater Moncton. This is the one market where "let me sleep on it" is how you lose the house.

Riverview West: HOT 17 sales | Average $377,971 | 2.0 months | 24 days Two months of inventory, 24 days to sell. Same story as June. Still where the action is, still no time for games.

Riverview East: HOT 15 sales | Average $422,891 | 1.5 months | 59 days It sold 15 homes against 8 new listings. Not a typo. It sold nearly twice what came on the market. Inventory is down to 1.5 months and sellers are getting 98.9% of asking. The 59-day average days on market looks slow until you notice that with only 15 sales, one or two long-sitting listings finally clearing drags the whole number up. This is exactly the stat a lazy agent quotes to talk you into overpricing ("relax, homes take two months here") while the good ones quietly sell in a weekend. Watch the inventory, not the calendar.

Riverview Center: TOO SMALL TO RATE 4 sales | Average $457,475 Four sales. Not a trend, and I am not going to dress it up as one.

Buying in Riverview: be decision-ready or be a backup offer, especially in the West. Selling: you have the strongest hand in the region. That is not a licence to overprice, it is a licence to price right and let the phone ring.

SHEDIAC AND THE COAST: COLD

20 sales (down 37.5%) | Average $405,953 (down 9.5%) | Median $347,450 (down 4.0%) | 9.0 months of inventory | 37.5 days | 98.5% of asking

Now the part of the report someone will absolutely try to spin. The coast is the coldest market here, and it is not close. Nine months of inventory. 180 listings against 20 sales. Sales down 37% from last July. There are nine homes sitting for every one that sells. If anyone tells you the Shediac market is "strong right now," ask them to explain nine months of inventory, then watch them change the subject.

Shediac East / Cap-Pelé: BALANCED 12 sales | Average $367,433 | 4.7 months | 52 days The plot twist. While Shediac town froze, Cap-Pelé had its best month in a year. Sales doubled, and inventory dropped from over eight months a year ago to under five. Two coastal markets a short drive apart, heading in opposite directions. This is why "the coast" is not a thing you can price a house against. Cap-Pelé is not Shediac, and July proved it.

Buying on the coast: the most leverage you have had in years, especially in Shediac proper. Anything sitting past 60 days is not a firm price, it is an opening bid. Selling in Shediac: aspirational summer pricing does exactly one thing in this market, and that is produce a stale listing followed by the price cut you could have led with. Price to nine months of competition, or price to the summer in your head. Only one of those sells.

MY TAKE: THE NUMBER SOMEONE WILL DEFINITELY GET WRONG

The regional average price is down 0.5% from last year. Give it a week and someone turns that into "Moncton house prices are falling," probably in a Facebook comment, probably in capital letters.

They are wrong. The median is up 2.0% and the HPI benchmark, which is the cleanest number we have, is up 6.1% on the year. Two of the three price measures went up. The average slipped for a boring reason: the pricier markets went quiet this month (Moncton sales down 16%, Dieppe down 5.5%), so fewer high-end sales dragged the average down. That is a math quirk, not your home losing value.

The average price is the least reliable number in the entire report, and the easiest one to weaponize. It tells you what sold last month, not what your house is worth today. If a stat ever gets used to talk you into a lower list price, it will be this one. When the average and the median disagree, trust the median. When you actually need the answer, trust neither and get someone to pull your real comps.

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Buying in Riverview: move fast, skip the games.

• Buying in Moncton Center or Shediac: take your time and negotiate like you have all the leverage, because you do.

• Selling anywhere: your first three weeks decide everything. Price to the market you are in, not the one you were in two years ago.

The regional average applies perfectly to nobody. Your street, your price range, and your timeline are the only stats that matter, and none of them fit in a headline.

I read all 365 pages of this report so you don't have to. If you want to know what page your house is on, call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson | REALTOR® | eXp Realty (506) 852-6477

Source: CREA Moncton and Area Residential Market Activity and MLS® HPI Report, July 2026. Sub-areas with fewer than 10 monthly sales are flagged rather than rated, because small samples make unreliable trends.

One region. Four markets. Thirteen sub-markets. And they are not doing the same thing.

The June 2026 CREA numbers show a region that has downshifted from a seller's sprint to a negotiation. But zoom in one level and the picture splits hard: parts of Dieppe and Riverview are still running hot while chunks of Moncton and the coast have gone quiet.

Here is the whole thing, minus the fluff.

How the ratings work. Every area below gets a rating based on inventory, days on market, and how close sellers are getting to asking price:

• HOT: sellers in control, come prepared

• WARM: still favours sellers, but buyers can breathe

• BALANCED: fair fight

• COOLING: buyers gaining leverage

• COLD: buyers hold the cards

• TOO SMALL TO RATE: fewer than 10 sales this month, and I won't pretend a handful of transactions is a trend

GREATER MONCTON AT A GLANCE: BALANCED

323 sales (down 4.7%) | Average $396,016 (up 1.4%) | Median $375,000 (flat) | 4.5 months of inventory | 36 days to sell | Sellers getting 97% of asking

More choice, slower pace, flat prices. That is the whole regional story in nine words. With 1,466 active listings, the most June inventory in years, buyers are comparison shopping and sellers are negotiating, not dictating.

One number worth flagging: the MLS® HPI benchmark ($384,100) dipped 5% in one month but is up 6.2% on the year. One-month moves are noise. Ignore anyone panicking about it.

MONCTON: COOLING

88 sales (down 13.7%) | Average $399,136 (down 3.2%) | Median $380,000 | 5.2 months of inventory | 38 days | 96.7% of asking

The softest of the three urban markets. Sellers are giving up over 3% off list on average, roughly $13,000 on a typical home. That negotiating room did not exist two years ago.

Moncton North: BALANCED 38 sales | Average $433,335 | 3.9 months | 41 days Busiest sub-market in the city. Prices softened 7%, but demand is real.

Moncton East: COOLING 23 sales | Average $428,624 | 5.7 months | 37 days Active inventory up 90% from last year. Sellers here need sharp pricing.

Moncton Center: COLD 22 sales | Average $318,814 | 7.8 months | 31 days 171 active listings, 22 sales, 95.1% of asking. The buyer's market everyone keeps asking about? It lives here.

Moncton West: TOO SMALL TO RATE 5 sales | Average $357,000 Five sales is a coincidence, not a trend.

Buying in Moncton: negotiate with confidence, especially in Center and East. Selling: your comps are from the last 90 days, not from 2024. Price like it.

DIEPPE: HOT

61 sales (up 45.2%) | Average $491,874 (up 4.8%) | Median $444,900 | 3.1 months of inventory | 29 days | 98.2% of asking

Dieppe did not get the cooling memo. Sales up 45% while the rest of the region slowed. Most expensive urban market and still the most competitive.

Fox Creek: HOT 19 sales | Average $537,979 | 3.2 months | 19 days Sales nearly tripled. Nineteen days to sell at 99% of asking. Hottest sub-market in the region, full stop.

Chartersville: HOT 21 sales | Average $511,167 | 3.0 months | 23 days Strong and fast, but new listings jumped 169%. Supply is coming. Sellers, your window is now.

Dieppe Center: WARM 19 sales | Average $442,853 | 3.1 months | 43 days Sales are up, but 43 days to sell tells you buyers are choosy. Priced right it moves, priced hopeful it sits.

Dieppe East: TOO SMALL TO RATE 2 sales | Average $317,000 Two sales. Moving on.

Buying in Dieppe: pre-approval locked, decision-ready, no lowballing fresh listings. Selling: best conditions in the region, but buyers paying $500K expect $500K presentation.

RIVERVIEW: WARM

40 sales (down 4.8%) | Average $408,565 (up 2.4%) | Median $377,450 (up 6.1%) | 2.3 months of inventory | 34 days | 97.6% of asking

Riverview sold more homes than it listed in June: 40 sales against 39 new listings. Tightest inventory in Greater Moncton. But buyers have gotten price-sensitive. Sellers were getting over 100% of asking a year ago. Now it's 97.6%. Scarcity is not a blank cheque anymore.

Riverview West: HOT 23 sales | Average $411,530 | 1.7 months | 21 days Sold more than it listed. Twenty-one days. This is where the action is.

Riverview East: WARM 10 sales | Average $396,100 | 3.1 months | 38 days Solid but slowing. Inventory up nearly 50% from last June.

Riverview Center: BALANCED 7 sales | Average $416,629 | 2.9 months | 55 days Low inventory but 55 days to sell and 96% of asking. Buyers here are patient. Sellers shouldn't be greedy.

Buying in Riverview: hesitate a week on a good listing in the West and you're writing a backup offer. Selling: you still have the edge, just not a 2021 edge.

SHEDIAC AND THE COAST: COOLING

23 sales (down 32.4%) | Average $435,087 (up 7.7%) | Median $423,000 (up 8.3%) | 7.0 months of inventory | 45 days | 98.2% of asking

The most misread market in the report, which is why it gets its own section below. Sales down a third, days on market more than doubled (20.5 last June, 45 now), seven months of inventory. That is buyer's market territory on the coast for the first time in years. Quality properties still command strong prices. Everything else sits.

Shediac East / Cap Pele: TOO SMALL TO RATE 4 sales | Average $348,725 | 13.5 months Four sales and over a year of inventory. Small numbers, but the direction is unmistakable.

Buying on the coast: the most leverage you've had in five years. Anything sitting past 45 days is a conversation worth having. Selling: aspirational summer pricing worked in 2021. In 2026 it produces a stale listing and a price reduction. Price it right or wait a year.

MY TAKE: THE NUMBER EVERYONE WILL READ WRONG

Shediac's average price is up 7.7%. The coast is booming, right?

No. When only 23 homes sell in a month, the average tells you which homes sold, not what homes are worth. A few strong waterfront sales drag the number up while the market softens underneath. Days on market doubled. Inventory hit seven months. Those are not boom numbers.

In thin markets, trust days on market and inventory over average price. Every time. Price data tells you about the past. Inventory data tells you about your negotiation.

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Buying in Dieppe or Riverview West: move fast, no games.

• Buying in Moncton Center or Shediac: take your time, negotiate hard.

• Selling anywhere: your first three weeks decide everything. Price to today's market, not last year's memory.

The regional average applies perfectly to nobody. Your street, your price range and your timeline are what actually matter, and that analysis takes a conversation, not a stats sheet.

I read all 365 pages of this report so you don't have to. If you want to know what page your house is on, call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.

Strong Roots - Smart Moves

Shane MacPherson | REALTOR® | eXp Realty (506) 852-6477

Source: CREA Moncton and Area Residential Market Activity and MLS® HPI Report, June 2026. Sub-areas with fewer than 10 monthly sales are flagged rather than rated, because small samples make unreliable trends.

My sellers just spent $10,000 fixing up a house they didn't even live in anymore.

It was the best money they spent all year, and I can prove it with the numbers. Even by the most conservative math, that $10,000 came back as more than $33,000 at the closing table.

The Story

Back in 2019, I helped a young couple buy their first home, a semi-detached in Riverview. We stayed in touch over the years, and this spring they called me. They were moving out to the country, they had a baby on the way, and it was time to sell.

The house was 16 years old and it showed. Dated paint colours, worn flooring in the basement, dinged up baseboards, and all the normal wear and tear that piles up when you're busy living your life instead of maintaining a showpiece.

There was one more thing, and it's the thing nobody wants to talk about: pets. This was a home with big dogs and cats, and it smelled like it. Chewed baseboards, scratched trim, damaged paint, and a strong animal odour throughout the house. If you have pets, you know exactly what I mean, and you also know that you stop noticing it in your own home. Buyers notice it in the first ten seconds.

Nothing here was unusual. Nothing was broken. Just a house that had been thoroughly lived in.

When I did the evaluation, I gave them two numbers.

Sell it as-is: list in the $324,900 to $329,900 range, and be prepared for it to sit.

Do the work first: list at $364,900.

That's a gap of $35,000 to $40,000 on paper. The estimated cost to close that gap was about $10,000.

What They Did

They took the advice. Here's what the $10,000 covered:

A professional painter went through the whole house, which handled the dated colours and the pet-damaged walls in one shot. The house was professionally deep cleaned top to bottom (windows, walls, baseboards, trim), and then cleaned a second time, because one pass does not get pet odour out of a home. New flooring and baseboard trim went into the basement level, which took care of the worst of the wear and the chewed trim. The basement stairs were cleaned and painted, mini splits were serviced/repaired and a new dishwasher was credited in the sale. The deck got pressure washed and the yard was cleaned up.

None of this was a renovation. No kitchen gut, no new bathroom, no additions. Just paint, cleaning, flooring, maintenance on existing appliances, and elbow grease.

And here's the part that matters: when we listed, the smell was gone. Completely. Buyers walked into a home that felt cared for instead of walking in, wrinkling their nose, and mentally knocking $30,000 off their offer before they'd seen the second bedroom.

The Result

We listed at $364,900.

We had an accepted offer in 8 days.

Final sale price: $363,000. That's 99.5% of list price.

Run the math, and let's use the conservative version. Even if the as-is listing had sold at the very top of that range, $329,900, they still sold for about $33,000 more by doing the work. After covering every dollar of the $10,000 in prep, they put over $23,000 extra in their pocket. Compare against the bottom of the range and it's closer to $28,000. Either way, every dollar they spent came back at least double.

And that's the optimistic version of the as-is scenario. In reality, an as-is listing in today's market probably doesn't sell at the top of its range, or at list at all. It sits, it gets stale, buyers start asking what's wrong with it, and the eventual offers come in well below asking. The real gap was likely bigger than these numbers show.

Why This Matters Right Now

The Greater Moncton market has shifted. Buyers have more options than they did a year ago, and they know it.

Here's what that looks like in practice. Buyers walk through an as-is listing and make a list of everything that needs doing. Paint, flooring, that railing, the deck. Then their agent takes that list and uses it to justify a lowball offer. And they're not offering you the cost of the repairs off the price. They're offering the cost of the repairs plus the hassle plus a margin for the unknown. A $10,000 prep job becomes a $30,000 or $40,000 price reduction in a buyer's offer.

In a hot market, sellers could skip the prep and buyers would compete anyway. That market is gone. Right now, the homes that sit are the ones where the seller decided the buyer could deal with it.

What This Means If You're Thinking About Selling

When your REALTOR walks through your home and tells you it needs work before it hits the market, that's not criticism and it's not them being picky. That's them protecting your money.

A good listing agent should be able to give you two honest numbers: what your home is worth as-is, and what it's worth after the right prep. Then you can decide if the gap is worth the investment. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the work costs more than it returns, and as-is is the smart play. But you can't make that call without both numbers.

That two-price evaluation is exactly what I did for these sellers, and it's what I do for every seller I work with.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I renovate my house before selling it in Greater Moncton?

Usually no, not in the full renovation sense. Major renovations like kitchens and bathrooms rarely return their full cost at sale. What does pay off is prep: paint, deep cleaning, flooring repairs, fixing the obvious wear and tear. The example above returned at least $2 for every $1 spent, and none of it was renovation.

What does selling a house as-is mean?

It means listing the home in its current condition with no repairs or prep work done. Buyers see everything, and in a balanced or buyer-leaning market, they price everything into their offer, usually with a heavy margin on top.

Can I sell a house with pet smell?

You can, but it will cost you far more than fixing it would. Pet odour is one of the fastest ways to lose a buyer, and most won't tell you that's the reason. They just don't come back. The fix is usually not complicated: professional deep cleaning (sometimes twice), fresh paint, and replacing any flooring that's absorbed odour. If you've lived with pets for years, assume you can't smell your own home accurately and get an honest outside opinion before listing.

How do I know if the prep work is worth the cost?

Get both numbers from your REALTOR: the as-is value and the after-prep value. Compare the gap to the estimated cost of the work. If the gap is meaningfully bigger than the cost, the work is worth doing. If it's not, list as-is with your eyes open.

How long does it take to sell a house in Moncton right now?

It depends heavily on condition and pricing. Well-prepped, accurately priced homes are still selling quickly. The home in this example sold in 8 days. As-is listings and overpriced listings are the ones sitting.

Thinking about selling? Before you list, get the full picture. My free Seller's Guide walks through the entire process, including real closing cost numbers for New Brunswick, so you know exactly what to expect.

[Download the Seller's Guide]

A client asked me recently if they really needed a home inspection on a brand new townhouse in Moncton. It was covered by a new home warranty, the builder had a solid reputation, and the home had just been completed. Why bother?

I told them the same thing I tell everyone: yes, get the inspection.

Here's why.

New home warranty is not the same as due diligence

New Brunswick new construction homes come with a warranty program that covers defects in materials and workmanship, structural issues, and a few other categories depending on the builder and program. That protection is real and it matters.

But a warranty is something you use after a problem shows up. A home inspection is how you find problems before they become your problem.

Those are two very different things.

Trades are busy. Schedules are tight. Things get missed.

We have excellent builders in Greater Moncton. I work with them regularly and I mean that. But homes are built by people, and people work under pressure. Schedules get compressed. Trades are stretched thin. And sometimes things get missed.

I recently did a walk-through on a 2024 townhouse and found a missing firewall between units. Not a cosmetic issue. A code requirement that affects fire safety and, depending on your insurance company, could affect your coverage.

The builder didn't try to hide it. It just got missed. It happens.

A home inspector would have caught it. That's exactly what they're there for.

A good inspector teaches you about your home

Here's something buyers don't always think about: a home inspection on a new build isn't just about finding defects. It's also one of the best ways to learn how your home actually works.

Where's the shut-off valve? How does the HRV system operate? What maintenance does the builder recommend for the first year? A good home inspector walks you through all of it, and that knowledge is worth something on its own.

First-time buyers especially benefit from this. You're not just buying a house, you're taking on responsibility for a building. Understanding the systems before you move in puts you in a much better position.

What a home inspector looks at on new construction

The focus is a bit different than on a resale home. With new construction, an inspector typically looks at:

Structural components: framing, foundation, roof
Mechanical systems: HVAC, HRV, plumbing, electrical
Building envelope: insulation, vapour barrier, windows, doors
Fire separation between units (in townhouses and semis)
Grading and drainage around the foundation
Any visible code or workmanship concerns

They're not checking for wear and tear. They're checking for missed steps, installation errors, and anything that could become a problem down the road.

When to book the inspection

Most standard agreements of purchase and sale in New Brunswick already include an inspection clause. What you want to do is add language to the additional terms and conditions that specifically addresses the timing for new construction. Here's the type of clause I typically recommend:

"The Buyer's home inspection shall be completed once construction of the property has been substantially completed by the Builder and the property is in a condition suitable for inspection, which is expected to be approximately ten (10) to fourteen (14) days prior to the agreed closing date. The Seller agrees to provide reasonable access to the property for the Buyer, the Buyer's REALTOR®, and the Buyer's chosen home inspector for the purpose of completing this inspection. This condition is included for the sole benefit of the Buyer."

That 10 to 14 day window matters. It gives the inspector time to do a thorough job, gives you time to review the report, and gives the builder time to address anything that comes up before your final walkthrough. Keep in mind that build schedules can shift, so make sure your clause language is flexible enough to account for delays rather than tied to a fixed date. If you leave it too late and something significant turns up, you have very little leverage and very little time.

Any reasonable builder will accept this kind of language. If they push back on it, that tells you something worth knowing before you're locked in.

Bottom line

New home warranty is a good thing. A home inspection is also a good thing. They're not the same thing and one doesn't replace the other.

I've been recommending home inspections on new construction for 15 years, and more so in the last 10. I've never had a client come back and say they regretted getting one. I've had clients come back and say they wished they had.

Get the inspection.

Questions about buying new construction in Greater Moncton? Call or text 506-852-6477. No pressure, just straight answers.  Buying new construction as part of a move from out of province? There's more on that, including why you want your own representation in a show home, in my Moving to Moncton guide.