Detached house prices soar in Halton
Published June 4, 2021 at 3:20 pm
If you’re looking to buy a home in Halton, you’ll have to contend with one of the toughest sellers’ markets in Ontario.
According to data recently released by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), the average price in the region–which is comprised of Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills, rose 29 per cent year-over-year to $1,193,780
While house prices remain high, the Toronto and GTA market isn’t quite as frenzied as it was earlier in the year, with TRREB reporting that 13 per cent fewer homes in the region changed hands between April and May.
The board recently revealed that 11,951 homes were sold in the area in May, down from 13,663 in April but up from 4,594 during the same period last year when the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning.
May sales have averaged 10,336 between 2010 and 2019 and the month is typically the strongest the region sees every year, but 2021 bucked the trend, said TRREB.
“There has been strong demand for ownership housing in all parts of the GTA … fuelled by confidence in economic recovery and low borrowing costs,” said TRREB president Lisa Patel in a news release.
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“However, in the absence of a normal pace of population growth, we saw a pullback in sales over the past two months relative to the March peak.”
Real estate website and brokerage Zoocasa said that Halton Region sales totalled 1,197 in May 2021, marking a 141 per cent increase from May 2020. Last month, 1,611 new listings came online, but the region still boasts the steepest sellers’ market of all the analyzed 905 cities.
According to Zoocasa, there was a total of 619 detached home sales in Halton, up 128 per cent year-over-year, at an average price of $1,522,584 (up 35 per cent). There were 79 semi-detached sales, up 216 per cent at an average price of $970,051 (up 23 per cent). Townhouse sales totaled 118 (up 136 per cent) at an average price of $805,247 (up 39 per cent), while condo sales totaled 139 (up 178 per cent) at an average price of $615,750 (up 19 per cent).
Despite a slight ebb in sales over the last two months, TRREB said market conditions remained “tight” enough to push the average selling price in the overall GTA to an all-time record in May.
The average home price was $1,108,453, up from $1,090,992 in April 2021 and $863,563 in May 2020.
The increase in average selling prices amounted to a 28.4 per cent spike on a year-over-year basis and caused the MLS home price index composite benchmark to soar by about 19 per cent year-over-year, TRREB said.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average price increased by 1.1 per cent between April and May.
Those on the hunt for a new home had much more supply to choose from than was available at the same time last year.
According to TRREB, May saw 18,586 new listings, down from 20,825 in April but up from 9,126 last May.
The listings, however, weren’t enough to quell some of the market’s heated conditions, said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.
“People actively looking to purchase a home continue to face a lot of competition from other buyers, which results in very strong upward pressure on selling prices,” he said.
“This competition is becoming more widespread with tighter market conditions in the condominium apartment segment as well.”
With files from Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
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