Average March sale price in Hamilton-Burlington down 37 per cent from 2017 //
Average sale price in Hamilton-Burlington $530,843 last month; properties sit longer
Real estate sales in HamiltonBurlington have plummeted for the third straight month — and this time prices took a sizeable tumble as well.
The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) says residential sales fell by 37. 8 per cent in March 2018 compared to a year ago — 1,050 homes last month next to 1,689 sales in March 2017. Sale prices fell by 13.8 per cent.
That means the average sale price in Hamilton-Burlington was $530,843 last month compared to $615,776 in March last year.
The average sale price of freehold homes fell 15.5 per cent with condominiums falling by 1.6 per cent.
The Hamilton-Burlington area was not alone in experiencing the declines in sales and prices.
“Our area experienced similar cooling off as is being reported by other real estate markets in the Golden Horseshoe area,” said RAHB CEO George O’Neill.
“Local sales were lower not only compared to March of last year, but also compared to the 10-year average for March.”
The Toronto Real Estate Board reported Tuesday that home sales in the Greater Toronto Area in March were down 39.5 per cent from last year, with prices falling 14 per cent (to $784,558 from $915,126).
On the other side of the country, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported a sales drop of 29.7 per cent.
O’Neill said government measures to cool the real estate market and higher borrowing costs are factors.
Ontario’s Liberal government, which faces an election this year, previously announced market
stabilizing measures last April that included taxes on vacant properties and a nonresident speculation tax.
Further cooling pressure from the federal government included a financial stress test for buyers implemented Jan. 1 for federallyregulated lenders and increases in both variable and fixed-rate mortgage rates as a result of moves by the Bank of Canada and fluctuations in the bond markets.
O’Neill said “the price drop is catching up to the decline in sales ... as people see the properties sitting longer. In order to sell them, the prices have to come down. That’s pure supply and demand economics.”
March results come after an even worse month for sales in February in Hamilton with a 40 per cent decline over the same month last year.
However, in February, there was only a 4.0 decline in prices.
O’Neill said “we have to keep sight of the bigger picture” that it is “clear the market peaked last year” and now real estate is starting to resemble more historic patterns.
The market, he said, is becoming more balanced with a 60 per cent sales-to-new-listings ratio. The average days on the market has jumped to 27 from 18.
O’Neill says taking nearly a month to sell a house is also a sign of a more balanced market, compared to recent years that saw houses selling in days and sometimes hours after being listed.
TD Economics senior economist Michael Dolega predicted “the worst is behind the Toronto market.
“We are in for some divergence
moving forward with the Vancouver market seeing some continued weakness into the year, whereas Toronto will probably see some sideways movement, but more of a pickup later in the year when people trickle back into the market,” he said.
BMO Capital Markets economist Robert Kavcic said he thinks “fundamentally both markets are both very solid.”
However, he said he didn’t consider March’s numbers a sign of a rebound yet.
“Looking at Toronto sales, they are starting to stabilize, but they are stabilizing at low levels,” he said.
“You are looking at some of the weakest sales activity since the last sales recession.”