Low inventory levels causing ‘some tightening’ in the Hamilton housing market

More than a thousand homes hit the Hamilton housing market last month, a first since last September.

But while 1,234 homes listed for sale in the city in May is an increase compared to recent months, it marks a nearly 25 per cent drop from the same time last year.

It's also a jump of more than 32 per cent month-over-month, according to data released by the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) on Thursday.

The report noted that while new listings have improved, inventory levels in the city are still around 16 per cent lower than they were last year, resulting in some tightening of the market."

RAHB president Nicolas von Bredow said despite higher interest rates taking a bite out of sales, those low inventory levels are likely contributing" to some of the price growth seen in the market.

The average sale price of a home in the city hit $814,082 in May - which is a nine per cent drop from the same time last year, but up from the average price of $750,529 in January.

While prices remain below last year's peak, the recent gains have helped support more confidence amongst both buyers and sellers," added von Bredow.

Last month, 750 homes were sold in Steeltown, marking a nearly one per cent increase from the same time last year. Compared to April, it was a jump of more than 16 per cent.

A detached home in Hamilton stayed on the market for an average of 18 days last month, compared to 22 in March.

Detached properties in the city saw the largest year-over-year sale price decrease, falling by more than 10 per cent to $891,751, while the prices of semi-detached homes dropped by more than nine per cent to $750,242.

More than 180 homes were sold on the Hamilton Mountain, 113 were sold in Stoney Creek and 91 were sold in central Hamilton. Dundas saw the slowest month for sales, with just 27 transactions - marking a nearly 16 per cent decrease from last April.

Dundas also experienced the least amount of new listings with 29 properties hitting the market last month, while the Hamilton Mountain saw 252 homes listed for sale.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com