September property sales close to record

(October 7, 2013 – Hamilton, Ontario) The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1207 properties sold through the RAHB Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) system in September.  This represents a 32.9 per cent increase in the number of sales over September of last year and is only one sale shy of the September record of 1208 sales set in 2009.

The average sale price of $392,013 was an increase of 6.7 per cent over the previous September. There were 1953 properties listed in September, an increase of 5.8 per cent over September of last year.   End-of-month listing inventory is 6.8 per cent lower than last year. 

“Sales and listings for the month of September were both well above the 10-year average for the month,” said RAHB CEO Ross Godsoe.  “Even though there was an almost-six per cent increase in listings, inventory continues to be lower than last year at this same time.”

Seasonally adjusted* sales of residential properties were 21.4 per cent higher than the same month last year, with the average sale price up eight per cent for the month.  Seasonally adjusted numbers of new listings were 1.4 per cent higher than the same month last year.

Actual overall residential sales were 31.1 per cent higher than the previous year at the same time.  Residential freehold sales were 34.6 per cent higher than last year and the condominium market saw an increase of 16.7 per cent in sales.  The average sale price of freehold properties showed an increase of 10.1 per cent over the same month last year; the average sale price in the condominium market decreased seven per cent when compared to the same period last year.

The average sale price is based on the total dollar volume of all residential properties sold.  Average sale price information can be useful in establishing long term trends, but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value.

The average days on market remained at 44 days in the freehold market and decreased from 50 days to 42 in the condominium market.

“This is the first time since the first quarter of the year that we saw a more balanced market,” added Godsoe.  “Whether it will continue that way is a good question – we’ll have to see what the next few months bring.”

Year to date, listings are up 1.3 per cent compared to the same period last year, while sales are 1.6 per cent higher.  The average sale price for the first three quarters of the year is 7.7 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Every community in RAHB’s market area has their own localized residential market.  Please refer to the accompanying chart for residential market activities in select areas of RAHB’s jurisdiction.

*Seasonal adjustment removes normal seasonal variations, enabling analysis of monthly changes and fundamental trends in the data.