2021 marked year of ‘feverish’ growth for Hamilton-area housing market
To many, 2021 and 2020 have all but blurred together - courtesy of the ongoing global pandemic.
But when it comes to the state of the Hamilton-region real estate market, 2021 made a name for itself, according to the latest year-end report from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
More than 16,500 homes were sold last year, marking a 10.5 per cent increase from 2020, while the average price of a home in the region rose by 25.7 per cent to $867,560, based on the latest figures released by the association on Thursday.
That number also represents a 169.8 per cent increase in price since 2011 - when the average sale price of a home in the region was $321,449.
RAHB president Lou Piriano said following a strong finish" in 2020, the 2021 market continued to grow feverish momentum" supported by high demand and low mortgage rates.
And month after month, new records were also recorded, he added.
2021 marked the first year that greater than 16,000 residential transactions occurred in the RAHB market area with the previous record set in 2016," said Piriano, in a press release. Real estate continues to be one of the best investments."
Every community covered by the association - which includes Niagara North and Haldimand County - also saw double-digit increases in the average price of a home.
Piriano said the record-breaking growth in price seen last year was fuelled by an extreme lack of inventory" attempting to play catch-up with demand.
It's a situation so critical that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) rated the Hamilton housing market as having a high degree of vulnerability in its September 2021 report.
Flamborough, Waterdown, Ancaster and West Lincoln saw their average prices top $1 million for the first time ever, according to the report.
And one in every four transactions in the RAHB region was over $1 million, compared to just one in every 10 in 2020, according to the association.
By the numbers
Hamilton saw listings increase by 10 per cent, while sales jumped by a 10.9 per cent and the average price of a home rose by 26.7 per cent to $798,959.
In Steeltown, a detached single-family home sat on the market for an average of 13.5 days compared to 23.5 in 2020. For semi-detached, townhouses and row houses, the average number of days on the market was just 11, compared to 18 in 2020. An apartment-style home in the city spent an average of 23 days on the market in 2021, compared to 20 in 2020.
Around the city, Dundas saw sales increase by 36 per cent, while Hamilton Mountain saw the highest total number of sales at 2,373. Ancaster, however, saw the largest drop in sales, falling from 840 in 2020 to 807 in 2021.
Burlington saw listings drop by 4.4 per cent, while sales increased by five per cent and the average price of a home jumped by 22.9 per cent to $1.07 million.
Haldimand saw listings grow by 8.1 per cent, the average price jump by 34.4 per cent to $734,496 and sales drop by 2.3 per cent.
Niagara North saw both sales and listings increase by 13.9 per cent, while the average sale price climbed by 30.7 per cent to $869,401.
Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com