Low inventory drives up sale price of Hamilton properties in September
Published October 6, 2020 at 6:04 pm
September saw a record number of properties change hands in Hamilton, but a low inventory of houses in the Hamilton-Burlington area drove up the prices of properties, a report has found.
September saw a record number of properties change hands in Hamilton, but a low inventory of houses in the Hamilton-Burlington area drove up the prices of properties, a report has found.
According to a report released earlier this month and prepared by the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB), 1,751 sales of residential properties located within the RAHB market area (Hamilton, Burlington, North Niagara and Haldimand) were processed through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) System in September 2020.
This represents an increase of sales by 37.67 per cent over last month and 53.9 per cent over September of last year.
“September is typically a busy month as we move into the Fall market; however, activity was some of the highest we have seen,” said RAHB President Kathy Della-Nebbia.
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“Sales significantly increased in September over last month and last year, and average price was up 10 to 20 per cent in all of our major RAHB communities for those same time periods.”
New listings are up 32.67 per cent over August 2020 and up 8.5 per cent over last September.
The average price for residential properties was $721,354, which is up 3.8 per cent from last month and up 19.8 per cent from September 2019. The number of active listings available at the end of the month was 40.4 per cent lower compared to the previous year.
“We also saw an increase in new listings in our area; however, there is a low number of active listings, which was down in September by over 40 per cent compared to the same month last year, said Della-Nebbia.
“This low inventory is driving the average price higher.”
In some areas, the average sale price year over year jumped by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In West Lincoln, for instance, in September 2019 the average sale price was $470,000. In September 2020, that average is up to $782,813.
In Flamborough, which boasts the highest average sale price across the RAHB area, in September 2019 the average sale price was $670,414 while this September, that number is up to $1,043,101.
In Burlington, the average sale price is up to $817,929 this September from $661,665 at the same time last year.
“Consumer confidence greatly increased over the Summer when the province moved into stage three of recovery, and we saw market activity increase,” said Della-Nebbia.
“This would have usually occurred in the Spring, but COVID-19 had a tremendous effect on the market at that time.”
Only time will tell how the second wave of the pandemic will impact this sector of the economy.
“As schools have reopened and more people go back to work, we are seeing the number of COVID-19 cases increase and we could see the effects of this on activity further into the Fall if we are unable to flatten the curve of the second wave,” she said.
