Supply and demand keeps Hamilton-area real estate prices high
The Hamilton-area real estate market, it appears, is bound by the most basic of economic laws - supply and demand.
An ongoing shortage of housing inventory for sale continues to push home prices higher, based on the latest figures for November released by the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
Active listings in the area covered by RAHB, which includes Niagara North and Haldimand County, were 41 per cent lower at the end of November compared to the previous year.
The average sale price for all home types in November for the RAHB area was $722,300, which was 21 per cent higher than November 2019.
It's a vicious cycle of sellers not listing their homes until they are confident they will find another home to buy," said RAHB president Kathy Della-Nebbia.
Meanwhile, the average number of days a home sits on the market prior to sale continues to drop. In Hamilton, a detached single-family home sat on the market for an average of 18 days in November compared to 32 days the year previously. For Hamilton semi-detached, townhouses and row houses, the average number of days on the market was just 14 days, compared to 29 days a year ago.
The number of home sales in November was down nearly 25 per cent from October, while new listings dropped by almost 30 per cent from the previous month.
The market has slowed from last month, and this is due to the colder weather, the COVID-19 cases increasing throughout the province, and Hamilton and Burlington moving to the red zone as of Nov. 16, where open houses are now banned," said Della-Nebbia.
The most eye-popping numbers in the Hamilton area continue to come from the market for single detached houses.
This would make sense during these times as we see a movement toward homes with more elbow room and outdoor space," Della-Nebbia said.
The average sale price for detached homes in Hamilton in November was $721,000, which was an increase of 25 per cent from the November 2019 average of $576,700.
In Burlington, detached houses sold for an average of $1.28 million in November, up 28 per cent from an average of $997,000 the previous November.
In Niagara North, which includes Grimsby, the price of detached houses jumped to $869,000 last month, a staggering increase of 37 per cent from November 2019.
The lowest-priced home type in the RAHB area were apartment-style condos in Haldimand County with an average price of $310,000 in November.
Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbuist@thespec.com