Average price for a home in Hamilton continues its steady climb in December
Published January 8, 2021 at 2:00 pm
The average price of homes in Hamilton continued to climb in December as demand for homes outstripped the local inventory.
According to data shared by the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB), there were 913 sales processed through MLS in December in the RAHB market area — which encompasses Hamilton, Burlington, Haldimand and Niagara North.
Sales were down by 25.95 per cent over last month, but up 41.6 per cent over December of last year.
The average price for residential properties was $729,853, which was up 1.04 per cent from last month and up 25.4 per cent from December 2019.
“We can see that the market has slowed from November, which is normal due to the holiday season, as well as increasing COVID-19 cases throughout the province, and more regions in Ontario placed into lockdown throughout December,” said RAHB President Donna Bacher in the association’s monthly market report.
“Despite being in either the Red Zone (Control) or Grey Zone (Lockdown) throughout December, we do not see the effects on the number of sales and new listings that we did in the spring lockdown.”
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New listings were down 47.87 per cent over November 2020 and up 34 per cent over last December. The number of active listings available at the end of the month was 52.2 per cent lower compared to the previous year.
The number of sales of single-family properties in the RAHB region, according to the report, increased in December by 37.8 per cent compared to the same month last year as the number of new listings was up 34 per cent over last year, and the average sale price increased by 29.3 per cent to $829,226.
“The combination of record December sales and normal December listing activity resulted in lower listing inventory, putting upward pressure on house prices in the RAHB market area,” said Bacher.
“The continued shift in demand to single-family homes has also contributed to the strong price growth.”
Sales of townhomes increased by a whopping 52.8 per cent and new listings were up 48.7 per cent, and the townhouse average sale price increased by 23.3 per cent to $615,775.
Bacher attributes this to the fact people are looking for more living space and townhomes are often the most affordable option.
Flamborough continues to have the highest average sale price in all of the RAHB market at $1,079,500 (up from $839,843 last in 2019).
Dunville has the lowest average sale price in the market area at $501,571 (up from $376,494 in 2019).
“This activity could be the result of continued low-interest rates, coupled with increasing consumer confidence due to the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada,” Bacher said.
The slow pace of the vaccine’s rollout and the skyrocketing number of new COVID-19 cases will undoubtedly have a further impact on the local real estate market and its prices.
— Main photo courtesy The Canadian Press
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