Compared with a year ago, August sales were up nearly 35 per cent while the average home price in Canada hit $586,000, up 18.5 per cent compared with a year ago.
Buyers flocking to Hamilton from the Greater Toronto Area is a factor in the price hikes. But a bigger one is a shortage of listings.
The 955 active residential real estate listings in Hamilton at the end of August was the lowest number since at least April — and it’s 18 per cent lower than the previous August.
For Hamilton and Burlington combined, the number of active listings at the end of August was more than 25 per cent below the 10-year average.
“There are more buyers than there are sellers out there right now,” said Cosentino. “There are a lot of bidding wars happening, especially in the price point under $600,000.
“If there’s a listing for $499,000, there’s probably going to be a bidding war of 10 to 20 buyers on it for sure,” he added.
The COVID pandemic is also having a major impact by altering the nature of the workforce, said Kathy Della-Nebbia, president of the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
“I believe that working remotely from home has become much more acceptable to many employers, which will have a positive impact on the RAHB marketplace,” said Della-Nebbia. “Those potential buyers who couldn’t afford the GTA and wanted the dream of home ownership but couldn’t face the commute are now able to do so.”
“The opportunity to work from home full- or part-time will allow those buyers to come our way,” she added.
Cosentino doesn’t expect the situation to change much between now and the end of the year.
“It all comes down to supply and demand,” said Cosentino. “If there’s a lot of inventory coming back on the market, then we’re going to have more of a stable market, which we don’t have right now.
“My crystal ball says it’s probably going to be the same as it is now,” he said. “With COVID, people are living with the unknown. We don’t know if there’s going to be a second wave.”
Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: [email protected]
Source: – HamiltonNews
