I remember a conversation I had while driving around with a buyer very early in my real estate career. I was green and still learning the business, but even then I had a sense that real estate moved in natural cycles. Markets heated up, cooled down and eventually changed direction, usually influenced by the broader economy and, just as importantly, by human behaviour.

The woman I was working with was frantic to buy a home. We had submitted several offers and lost in bidding contests, and at one point I finally asked her why she felt such urgency. Her answer has stayed with me ever since.

“If I don’t buy a home now, I will never be able to get into the market.”

She eventually bought a home, and shortly afterward the market crashed. It took roughly 13 years for property values to return to the peak they had reached when she purchased.

That experience reinforced something I had probably already started learning in my teenage and college years. I had watched people struggle through a deep recession that followed mortgage rates climbing above 20%. Businesses struggled, jobs disappeared and people who assumed the good times would continue indefinitely discovered otherwise.

Nothing lasts forever. Real estate markets certainly don’t.

Human nature, however, seems remarkably consistent.

When the market is hot, buyers become terrified they are missing out. People rush to purchase, upgrade or invest because they believe prices will continue climbing and the opportunity may disappear. When the market cools, the psychology flips completely. Suddenly the last thing people want to discuss is buying real estate.

These are the trends that are playing out today.

Real estate is still a popular topic of conversation, but the discussion has changed. Instead of hearing about bidding wars and homes selling overnight, the conversation revolves around high mortgage rates, people losing homes to lenders, sellers taking losses and predictions that prices may decline further.

The comment I heard from a buyer in the late 1980s, “If I don’t buy now, I’ll never get into the market,” has essentially become the 2026 version: “Why would I buy now? If I wait, prices will probably be lower.”

Different markets. Same emotion.

Both reactions are driven largely by fear, and fear has never been particularly good at calculating a mortgage payment.

If we look below the surface of the Durham Region market, something interesting is happening. There are approximately 8% fewer homes for sale than there were at this time last year. At the same time, buyers have become more cautious, with sales running approximately 15% below last year.

Sellers are hesitating and buyers are hesitating. Everyone seems to be standing around waiting for someone else to blink.

For financially prepared buyers, that can create opportunity.

There is less competition for homes. Financing and inspection conditions are common again. Sellers are negotiating, and buyers have the luxury of actually considering a property before discovering that three other offers arrived while they were standing in the driveway.

Prices reflect this change. The average home in Durham Region sold for approximately $834,000 in July, down from about $856,000 in June.

The natural reaction is to wait. If prices declined this month, perhaps they will decline again next month. They might.

But that is where buyers can get trapped.

The best buying opportunities rarely arrive with balloons, a marching band and an Instagram influencer announcing that the bottom of the market has officially arrived. We usually recognize the bottom only after it has passed.

By the time buyers feel confident again, more people begin returning to the market. Competition increases, negotiating power shrinks and conditions slowly disappear. Eventually we may find ourselves back at the kitchen table hearing someone say, “Helen had to pay $50,000 over asking to get the house she fell in love with.”

That does not mean everyone should rush out and buy a home tomorrow. It does mean financially prepared buyers should consider asking themselves something other than, “What if prices fall further?”

There is another question worth asking. What happens if I wait until everyone else feels comfortable buying again?

Markets change much faster than human nature does. Many times the best opportunities appear when everyone else is too nervous to notice them.

If you are curious about stepping into the market, I can be reached at linday@buyselllove.ca or 905-743-5555.