Hamilton house prices rise more than twice the national rate
So, about that whole cooling market for house prices thing … yeah, not so much, according to the latest numbers released from Royal Lepage’s third-quarter survey.
The aggregate price of houses in Hamilton increased by nearly 28 per cent when the third quarter of 2017 is compared to last year’s third quarter.
That’s virtually tied with the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge region for the highest increase of the 53 markets across Canada surveyed by Royal Lepage, and it’s more than twice as high as the 13.3 per cent increase seen nationally.
The aggregate price is the weighted average of the median values of all housing types.
The median price of a two-storey house increased by 30 per cent to just over $582,000, compared to the third quarter of last year. Bungalow prices increased by 24 per cent to about $487,000.
“The frenzy has stopped but we’re still seeing multiple offers on houses when they’re priced properly,” said Joe Ferrante, broker of record for Hamilton’s Royal Lepage State Realty.
“I think there’s still a lot of value in the city, especially Hamilton proper,” he added.
Ferrante said there has been a bit of a slowdown in activity in the past couple of months and an increase in listings.
“It’s giving buyers a bit more breathing room,” said Ferrante. “They can at least put conditions on an offer.”
The one sector showing signs of stagnation was the median price of condominiums in Hamilton, which rose by just 4 per cent to $318,000. Ferrante attributes the weak growth to an excess of condo units on the market.
Elsewhere, aggregate prices were up about 22 per cent in Toronto and the GTA, and just over 20 per cent in Niagara compared to a year ago.
Regina, Saskatoon, Trois-Rivières, Fredericton, Moncton and St. John’s, N.L., were among the handful of markets that saw declines in house prices compared with the third quarter of last year.
The highest aggregate price for a house was $1.44 million in Vancouver. At the other end of the scale, the aggregate house price in Moncton was $177,000.
Nationally, two-storey houses rose by 13.9 per cent to $748,000 compared to the third quarter of 2016, bungalows increased by nearly 10 per cent to almost $526,000 and condo units jumped more than 15 per cent to almost $414,000.