Real estate sales drop 17 per cent from a year ago

A 17.1 per cent decrease in sales of residential properties in the area in November — though a substantial drop on the face of it — is no cause for alarm, but a reflection the market is coming off a peak year in 2017, says the chief executive officer of the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

The RAHB monthly statistics release for November shows 862 sales of residential properties.

This compares with more than 1,000 last November.

But it also shows that average sale price of single-family properties increased by 5.2 per cent and the sales-to-new-listings ratio went up to 71.2 per cent from 69.9 per cent last year at this time,

This indicates the Hamilton area is still a “seller’s market.”

“The 17.1 per cent drop is not something to be alarmed about, when we consider that for a number of years the market was growing and, not to put too fine a point on it, one year ago it peaked,” said RAHB CEO George O’Neill.

The downturn, he says, is a combination of a usual slowdown in the winter months with the normalizing that happened from the special conditions of last year and the boom market years leading up to the peak

“November and December are typically slower months in real estate, which is why there is a decrease in the number of new listings for this month,” said O’Neill.

“With the decrease in new listings from the same time last year, combined with increases in average sale price for detached homes and townhouses, it will be interesting to see what the market will do for the remainder of the year and leading into 2019.”

What happens in the next few months in particular will depend partly on the weather, said O’Neill.

He said if conditions are snowy and unpleasant, people don’t venture out and sales could remain sluggish.

“We expect a general slowdown around this time but the market is sound and properties that are properly priced and effectively marketed will sell.”

He added that the November numbers in other places, like Toronto, are generally similar.

“But as I said, we’re coming off a peak year and things are still strong.”