A realtor is suggesting home sales in Hamilton are beginning to favour buyers this spring, despite the regional numbers still showing a seller’s market amid continuing high borrowing costs.
Rob Golfi of Remax Escarpment Realty told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton the market appears to be “picking up” with the warmer weather and offers over asking from sellers a bit more frugal compared with what’s been seen in recent years.
“The multiple offers are not coming in like $50,000, $100,000 or $200,000 over asking, they’re more coming in at $10,000, $15,000 over asking or at full price,” said Golfi.
He says with a noticeable increase in the volume of “serious buyers” looking at homes in the Hamilton-Burlington area right now, the high cost of borrowing has many he’s come in contact with showing signs of caution in terms of what they are offering.
“We had one just last week that had nine offers on a house we were selling and the highest offer was only about $25,000 over asking,” Golfi recalled.
“So … people are very cautious, but there are serious buyers out there right now.”
In late March, the annual RBC Home Ownership Poll said cracks were beginning to show in Canadians’ confidence in the housing market and that “there are signs of optimism.”
The annual poll, conducted online by Ipsos Reid from Jan. 31 to Feb. 8, found 15 per cent of those surveyed said they’re likely to buy in the next two years, a drop from 27 per cent from the previous year.
But an overwhelming majority, 84 per cent, still see real estate as a sound investment and 52 per cent say now is a good time to get into the market.
Hamilton-Burlington home prices fell on average almost 20 per cent year over year from last March, with apartment-style homes seeing the largest decrease, down 22.8 per cent year over year.
The average residential price across Hamilton-Burlington moved to $851,558 as of the end of March, according to the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
Hamilton proper has seen prices a similar slip in the rate, down 21 per cent from last March to $793,241.
Sales in the city were still among the lowest reported for March in over a decade, down almost 34 per cent year over year.
Along with current lending rates, a 40 per cent decline in listings across the city is attributed to the slow sales.
However, RAHB president Lou Piriano says numbers across the region appear to show the market shifting back to activity consistent with pre-pandemic levels and more stable pricing.
“While prices are lower than the highs reported in 2022, it is important to note that last year’s year-over-year (price) growth was over 24 per cent,” Piriano said.
“Our market has experienced significant price growth since 2019, when home prices were still below $600,000.”
The average residential price of a detached home in Hamilton checked in at $871,682 last month with an apartment going for around $458,465.
Ancaster, Waterdown and Flamborough were the regions in the Hamilton area reported to have homes costing around $1 million on average for March.
The lowest average prices were in Hamilton Centre, where a home was around $561,452, down 26 per cent year over year.
Golfi says sellers may have to lower expectations with those shifts as hanging on to the notion they will be able to get “what their neighbour got” the same time last year is likely “unrealistic.”
“So there’s a small inventory out there that are overpriced listings, which will probably have to sit for a while until the homeowner realizes that the market’s not going to give them that large dollar on their house,” Golfi said.
Nearly half of those surveyed (49 per cent) in the RBC poll expect mortgage rates to be the same this time next year, while 43 per cent admit they believe home prices will continue to climb.
The findings did suggest confidence in the housing market is still high and young Canadians are the bright spot as they look to buy their first home and seek advice to do it right.
Piriano says typically the movement of interest rates goes hand in hand with a movement in prices.
He suggests short-term mortgages could be the way to go, with the current market conditions opening up a possibility of “buying now” and re-financing later.
“You can point to history and it’s constant … when rates went up, prices went down,” Piriano said.
“So if you think … rates are going down, be prepared for an increase in pricing.”
– with files from The Canadian Press
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