Home sales and listings dip due to COVID-19 pandemic
Average price still managed to rise, slightly, as house tours went virtual
Not even a slumping economy and a worldwide pandemic could stop the price of houses from rising in Niagara.
The increase was slight — just less than one per cent, from March to April — but that was better than the
Toronto area, where prices fell 11.8 per cent in that time, or HamiltonBurlington which saw a 6.6 per cent price decrease.
That was one of the few positive signs, though, in the monthly market report released by Niagara Association of Realtors.
Only 270 homes sold last month, compared to 535 in March, and the number of new listings dropped sharply to 588 from 908 in the month previous.
“That’s definitely due to (people) being good citizens and adhering to the government recommendations to stay home and to social distance,” said association president Terri McCallum.
“They don’t want a bunch of people coming into their homes unless it is absolutely necessary at this time,” McCallum added.
“I believe we’ll see all of the buyers who would have bought in this time period will come back in a couple of months.”
Toronto and Hamilton-Burlington saw similar decreases in the number of homes listed and sold in April and March.
Niagara’s real estate market has been hot for nearly two years.
While the benchmark sale price went up 11.7 per cent from April 2019 to April 2020, the increase from March to April this year was less than one per cent, only $4,300, to a benchmark price of $452,300.
The benchmark is based on homes between 51 and 99 years old, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In Niagara, the highest-priced homes are in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the lowest are in Port Colborne and Wainfleet, according to the real estate association. Between March and April there was little change in the average time homes stayed on the market. The average was 34 days in April. McCallum, with Royal Lepage, admitted the slow sales have probably been difficult for some realtors.
“We anticipate that once restrictions are lifted, all of that pent-up buyer interest is going to drive the market,” she said.
“Sales of homes generate a lot more business than just the sale of the home. There’s about $60,000 in offshoot spending that happens every time there’s a house sold in this country.”
That includes everything from home appraisals to inspections, furniture sales, moving costs, decorating and mortgages.
She said safety restrictions due to COVID-19 have made it difficult to sell.
“People like to go through a house and actually see it,” said McCallum. “And even though realtors have embraced livestream open houses and virtual tours, a buyer still needs to physically see a property.”
When there are showings, there is a long list of precautions realtors and customers must take.“We’re wanting people to deep clean their homes, first of all,” she said. “We don’t want them to be there when there is a showing, no overlapping showings, and cleaning between showings if there happens to be two in a day.”
The Ontario Real Estate Association provides forms to fill out for people entering a house, asking if they have been out of the country recently, are ill or if anyone in their family has been sick.
McCallum said homeowners are also asked to have all their lights turned on and to take steps such as leaving cupboard and dishwasher doors open before potential buyers arrive.
“There’s lots of restrictions, but we’re more than happy to follow those restrictions because it keeps everyone safe,” she said. Gord.Howard@niagaradailies.com