The Realtors® Association of Hamilton-Burlington is reporting modest year-over-year gains for February 2024. With 839 homes sold, we saw substantial gains in Niagara North and Burlington, while areas like Haldimand County saw slightly slower sales.
New listings in the Hamilton-Burlingotn area are about 23% higher than last year and inventory across the region improved across most price ranges.
These numbers suggest a busy start to the Spring Market that should be further boosted by expected interest rate cuts, likely happening sooner rather than later.
According to RAHB president, Nicolas von Bredow, this current boost in supply is comparative to record low supply levels seen throughout the area for the past 10 years. While the current market is looking generally balanced, most experts agree that conditions will tighten into the spring.
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Let’s take a closer look at what happened in the local real estate market last month:
Hamilton Market Activity
Variable 2024 Difference
Sales Activity 487 2.1%
New Listings 890 19.8%
Active Listings 1,205 16.5%
Months of Inventory 2.5 14.1%
Average Price $778,238 -2.4%
Median Price $736,000 -1.9%
Average Days on Market 34.4 10.7%
Burlington Market Activity
| Variable | 2024 | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Activity | 201 | 18.9% |
| New Listings | 333 | 35.4% |
| Active Listings | 355 | 17.2% |
| Months of Inventory | 1.8 | -1.5% |
| Average Price | $1,139,993 | 6.4% |
| Median Price | $1,014,00 | 6.8% |
| Average Days on Market | 28 | 11.9% |
The real estate market is always changing. Before buying or selling, make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest insights. Read our past market report blogs right here.
Sales Activity
There were 487 sales in Hamilton last month, up 2.1% year-over-year. In Burlington, there were 201 sales, which is up 18.9% over last year.
New Listings
New listings were up 19.8% in Hamilton with 890 new listings hitting the market in February. Burlington had 333 new listings, up 35.4% over last year.
Active Listings
Active listings, sometimes called ‘inventory’ was also up in Hamilton. There were 1,205 active listings in February, up 16.5% over 2023. Burlington saw similar gains. With 355 active listings, it was up 17.2% year-over-year.
Months of Inventory
Months of inventory is traditionally used as a measure to tell if the current market conditions favour buyers or sellings. Anything about 3 months of inventory is typically considered to be a Buyer’s Market. In Hamilton, the current months of supply is at 2.5%, which is up 14.1% year-over-year. Burlington had tighter conditions with 1.8 months of inventory, down slightly 1.5% over last year.
Average Days on Market
The average number of days on the market in Hamilton was 34.4 last month, which is up 10.7% over February 2023. Burlington average DOM was 28, which is up 11.9% over last year.
Average Prices
The residential average price in Hamilton was $778,238, down slightly 2.4% over February 2023. Burlington’s average price was $1,139,993, which is up 6.4% year-over-year.
In the News
The Bank of Canada announced another hold on interest rates last week. The Policy Rate remained at 5% after last week’s announcement and all signs point to the BOC ending its quantitative tightening program as early as April.
This is further evidenced by the news that Canadian inflation fell to 2.9% in January, compared to 3.4% in December. This is a greater dip than what analysts were initially expecting and brings inflation back down to the Bank of Canada’s target range of 1-3%.
The Canadian labour market kicked off the year with the biggest job gains in four months. Canada added 37,000 jobs in January, primarily driven by an increase in part time work. The unemployment rate fell to 5.7%, which is the first decline since December 2022.
The Federal Government is discontinuing the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive program that “provided shared equity mortgages directly from the federal government for first-time buyers.” Many experts say the program will not be missed as the requirements to qualify for the program were unrealistic for many of Canada’s expensive real estate markets.
A Look at What’s to Come
With the latest news of a Bank of Canada interest rate hold, it’s safe to say the BOC has officially ended its rate-hiking cycle. The conversation has already turned to ‘when’ rates will come down instead of ‘if’ rates will come down.
Realistically, we could see anywhere from 4-6 rate cuts for the remainder of 2024 with more expected next year. There is an enormous amount of pent-up demand and many say we’ve already hit the bottom of the market, as things have been on the rise since mid-December.
This type of demand, coupled with record low levels of new construction will create the perfect storm. On the ground, we’re seeing significant activities on listings in the past 30-60 days, with competition heating up.
Buyers should jump into the market immediately, things are only going to heat up as each month passes. For sellers, this is the moment you have been waiting for. We expect many new listings to hit the market in the next few months, so it would be wise to get ahead of the competition.
The post-pandemic market adjustment is now over and in a couple of years this market “pause” will simply be a blip on the radar.
Are you thinking about making a real estate move in the near future? Call us at 1-844-484-SOLD or email us here for everything you need to know about buying and selling in this market.
