Niagara home prices continue to soar
Niagara’s real estate boom is continuing.
After months of steady increases in the resale value of Niagara homes, as well as the speed at which properties are selling, statistics released Thursday by the Niagara Association of Realtors show that trend continued through February.
Association president Patrick Dummitt said the trend shows no sign of slowing down.
“It doesn’t seem to be letting up at all,” said Dummitt, a sales representative at Royal LePage Niagara Real Estate Centre.
He said home prices started climbing more than two years ago “on a smaller scale,” but it has since become quite prevalent.
“There was a situation in our office here where a property was listed. It had 13 offers on it and went for like 30 per cent over the asking price,” Dummitt said.
Niagara’s biggest increase compared to February 2016 was in Pelham, where average prices shot up by nearly $143,000 for an average sale price of $574,090.
But even Thorold and Port Colborne/Wainfleet, communities that had previously lagged behind market increases, saw huge increases over last year.
Prices increased by $118,649 for an average price of $378,695 in Thorold; and in Port Colborne and Wainfleet prices increased by $123,717 for an average sale price of $347,579.
Average sales for Grimsby, included in the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington, also increased substantially, climbing to $567,477 last month. That’s an increase of than $141,000 since February 2016.
Welland continues to offer the least expensive real estate in the region with average sale prices at $267,718.
The region’s only decrease was in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where average sale prices dropped by less than $3,000 for a total average sale price
of $596,537.
Dummitt pointed out that NOTL also saw a decrease in the number of homes sold in the month, which could have contributed to the drop.
“When you take a million-dollar sale out of the equation that will affect the numbers,” he said.