Selling a house in Burlington or Hamilton not as easy as last year
Published March 28, 2024 at 11:33 am
If you plan on selling your Hamilton or Burlington home this year, the market isn’t favouring you quite as much as it did in 2023.
According to a recent report by real estate website and brokerage Zoocasa, the Hamilton-Burlington region (the data is combined) was considered a sellers’ market in February 2023. Numbers from February 2024 suggest the market has shifted into balanced territory, meaning it’s a little easier for buyers to purchase a home and not quite as easy for sellers to offload their property.
Zoocasa determined the state of a market (such as whether it’s balanced or benefitting buyers or sellers) by focusing on the sales-to-new-listings ratio in 27 major markets across Canada.
The ratio is calculated by dividing the total sales by the number of new listings in each city.
Hamilton-Burlington’s ratio was 59 per cent last month, down from 63 per cent last year.
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According to the report, Hamilton-Burlington was one of just five markets to shift from a sellers’ market to a more balanced one.
“Out of the 27 major markets that we analyzed, none of them are currently favouring buyers. This is not unusual as last spring, none of the markets we studied favoured buyers either. Moreover, during winter 2023, there were balanced markets in the Niagara Region, Greater Toronto, Hamilton-Burlington, and Victoria,” the report reads.
“However, five markets, including Gatineau, Quebec, Newfoundland & Labrador, Ottawa, Hamilton-Burlington, and Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario, have transitioned into a balanced market.”
As for what’s driving the change, data from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) indicates that buyers have more inventory to choose from. RAHB’s report says 1,489 homes hit the market last month–up 23 per cent from February 2023. The report says inventory levels were 18 per cent higher than the previous year and that the increase was seen in all housing types.
RAHB’s report says the unadjusted benchmark price in the area hit $835,900 last month. In February 2023, the price was $1,017,600 in Burlington and $773,500 in Hamilton.
While Zoocasa’s report says most markets shifted from favouring sellers into more balanced territory, there is one exception–Edmonton. The Alberta city now favours sellers, with the ratio shifting 18 per cent.
Other southern Ontario markets have been balanced since 2023, including the GTA and Niagara areas.
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