Cooler housing market nationally; local agents report calmer period
GTA leads decline in April home sales
The president of the local real estate association says Hamilton’s and Burlington’s housing markets appear to be cooling off in recent weeks, mirroring trends at the national level.
Lou Piriano of the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington said that anecdotally, he is hearing from agents that homes are drawing fewer multiple offers — sometimes none at all — and that the number of showings are down.
But he cautioned it will take two or three months of data to be able to confirm this shift in the market.
“It may be slowing down or it may just be a lull,” Piriano said.
Nationally, home sales cooled in April after setting a record the previous month as the pace of transactions in the Greater Toronto Area slowed, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday.
There was a 1.7 per cent decrease
in sales over the MLS system last month compared with March, said the association, which represents more than 100,000 real estate brokers, agents and salespeople in the country.
In nearly two-thirds of all local markets across Canada, sales fell. The decline was led by a 6.7 per cent drop in the Greater Toronto Area, where concerns have grown about housing affordability.
Local speculation is it could be “buyer burnout — that people are just sick and tired,” but there also tends to be a herd mentality amongst buyers and sellers, Piriano said.
“If they hear that people are starting to back off and cool off, they tend to do the same thing, and when they hear that it’s frantic and frenetic they all jump in,” he added.
George O’Neill, CEO of the local realtors’ association, said the market in Hamilton and Burlington has shifted in the last few weeks, but while more properties are being listed, there are still a “strong, healthy” number of sales.
Housing prices are not declining at this point, he said, but there is more availability and choice for those looking to buy, he said.
“I think that’s a good thing,” O’Neill said. “We certainly want to get back to a more balanced market.”
The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington reported 1,770 sales in April — 7.5 per cent higher than the same month last year.
Last month, the Ontario government announced more than a dozen measures in an effort to stabilize the market in the Greater Toronto Area and ease worries about a bubble, including a 15 per cent tax on foreign homebuyers.
“It’s quite clear that Ontario’s serving of policy changes had a cooling effect late in April through tempered demand and a big increase in listings (perhaps as sellers sensed a looming correction),” Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said in a research note.
“While that might put peak price growth behind us, the question is how much the market will cool from the unsustainable 30 per centplus pace, and how long the adjustment will persist. If Vancouver is any guide, the answers appear to be somewhat and not too long, at least while interest rates are pegged at current levels.”
Sales picked up in Greater Vancouver, gaining 15.6 per cent compared with March. “Sales in Vancouver are down from record levels in the first half of last year but the gap has started to close,” CREA president Andrew Peck said.
Sales in Greater Vancouver were down 26.2 per cent compared with April 2016. Over the same period, the Greater Toronto Area saw sales fall 3.8 per cent.
Nationwide, sales were down 7.5 per cent over the last year.
The actual average price for a home sold last month was $559,317, up 10.4 per cent from a year ago, boosted by the Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto markets. The aggregate composite MLS home price index rose 19.8 per cent.