The Realtor’s Association of Hamilton-Burlington has just released the August market stats for Hamilton. It’s now been four full months since Ontario released its Fair Housing Plan and it appears that the fear’s created by the annoucement have fully washed away.

May’s Market Flood Has Finally Subsided

After the Fair Housing Plan was initially announced, we saw an almost immediate response from sellers. Going into May, over 40% more listings hit the market than in May of 2016, as sellers feared that the market was going to crash. Many individuals were trying to cash out — and this prompted buyers to hesitate, as they weren’t certain of the direction the market was going. As this large inventory hit the market, sales volume declined. But (and this is important) prices remained up even during this tumultuous time.

Moving into June, listings remained up 25.1% year over year. This was still much higher than it had previously been, but down significantly from the 40% in May. Sales volume continued to be down, with more inventory remaining on the market and buyers still sitting on the sidelines. At this point, price points began to change, but not significantly. Average prices were up year over year by 13% in June compared to 25% in May; a little less, but still a considerable increase.

July saw new listings still up but the fear subsiding. July’s listings only showed a 15.3% increase in listings year over year; the listings were still up but the amount that they were up was decreasing. Multiple offers started reappearing, and overall the market was beginning to pick-up, with prices close to, at, or even higher than asking.

Finally, in August — traditionally, a slower month — we saw new listings decline for the very first time since May. Year over year, new listings in August were down 6.2%.

Hamilton Remains a Market with Strong Fundamentals

Through all of this, Hamilton has fared very well, with strong fundamentals and housing values that are still going strong. With a 12.7% increase in average home values for August 2017, Hamilton is faring better than virtually any community in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Toronto was up only 3% in August. Property values are still growing in Hamilton and the market has proved to be extraordinarily resilient.

Though many people believed Hamilton’s growth was attributed to the overflow from the Greater Toronto Area, the Fair Housing Plan has shown that Hamilton’s real estate market is stronger and more fundamentally primed for growth. Though prices have temporarily softened in Toronto, it’s not likely to last long nor is it likely to impact price points in Hamilton. The fundamentals of the Toronto market are stronger than ever before. As we have witnessed in Vancouver, the fear based slowdown will be shortlived.

Hamilton is currently rebuilding after three decades of economic stagnation. The Canadian economy is on fire, wages are growing, unemployment is falling, and interest rates — although a little higher than a few months ago — remain very low. It’s always important to remember that real estate is local. Listening to national news and hearing about Canadian real estate values is not going to help buyers and sellers in the Hamilton market.

Instead, what matters is street-by-street, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and city-by-city news. Hamilton has all the hallmarks of a strong, prosperous real estate market. There are many fantastic developments happening here now and many to come in the next five years, all of which will become major drivers of growth. The West Harbor Go Station, the Centennial Go Station, and many new and incredible, groundbreaking developments are all to come.