Home prices continue to climb
Niagara home prices increased significantly in the first quarter of this year, according to a Royal LePage survey released Friday.
But sales statistics recently published by the Niagara Association of Realtors seem to tell a very different story for March.
Royal LePage’s survey says the aggregate price of a home in Niagara increased by 17.9 per cent to $397,807 in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 2017.
Royal LePage Niagara Real Estate Centre’s broker of record Brad Johnstone said realtors are seeing notable spikes in prices across the region, as demand for property exceeds available inventory.
Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) statistics for March, however, show a 0.47 per cent drop in average residential sales prices, compared to last year, while the number of property sales dropped by more than 32 per cent.
Homes also took longer to sell, increasing from 27 days on the market March
2017, compared to 36 days this year.
In a media release, NAR president Randy Mulder said a lack of inventory was a challenge for Niagara’s real estate market in March, but “it is great to see that more properties are becoming available.”
“The next few months should be busy, as that inventory is bought up,” he added.
Johnstone, however, said the disparity with NAR’s statistics is the result of month over month comparisons, rather than the quarterly information Royal LePage uses.
“One month of data can be very substantially swayed,” Johnstone said.
“Last year, the entire first half from January to the end of May was the best year in all of history for real estate in the Niagara Region. When you go and compare March 2018 to March 2017, I’m not surprised at all.”
However, by basing the comparison on three months of data “it levels out some of the ups and downs.”
NAR statistics for January and February also show increased average sales prices in both months.
According to the Royal LePage statistics, almost all Niagara communities saw increases in sales prices at the start of the year, climbing as high as 30.7 per cent in Port Colborne, while the number of sales declined. Only West Lincoln and Grimsby saw prices fall, by eight per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively.
Despite the continuing climb in prices, Johnstone said Niagara remains “very affordable” compared to other areas.
For instance, he said the average sale price in Welland climbed by 12.7 per cent to $324,000, while prices in St. Catharines reached $365,000 after a 7.5 per cent increase.
“When you look at Toronto numbers, we’re still affordable. It’s just our units are down because we still don’t have the inventory and we don’t have as many buyers,” Johnstone said.