(January 12, 2012 – Hamilton, Ontario) The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) held its annual press conference today and 2012 President Cameron Nolan anticipates the 2012 real estate market will hold steady through 2012, with continued low interest rates and average sale prices that increase slightly above the inflation rate.

In his inaugural speech, Nolan noted that consumer confidence is a major area of concern going forward as, according to a survey sponsored by the Economic Club of Canada, a majority of Canadians believe the country is in a recession despite the fact Canada hasn’t been in recession since 2009. Nolan also noted the good news for the local economy –the new jobs brought to Hamilton by companies such as Maple Leaf and Canada Bread and that unemployment in the Hamilton area is about one per cent lower than the Canadian rate of 7.5% and lower than the provincial average. “If we can continue to see stabilization in the employment rate, we ....

(January 5, 2012 – Hamilton, Ontario) The real estate market in the Greater Hamilton, Burlington and outlying areas* saw an increase in the number of listings and a small decrease in the number of sales and average sale price when compared to the same month last year, according to Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) statistics released today by the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

After several months of strong sales, the residential condominium market experienced a drop in number of sales of just under five per cent when compared to December of last year. The same market also saw a 9.9 per cent increase in average sale price over the same month last year.

In the residential freehold market, sales dropped less than two per cent from last year at this time while the average sale price increased by two per cent.

While sales were down compared to last year, listings and sales were both higher than the 10-year average for t....

December

My time as president of the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington is coming to an end. One of the things I have tried to do during my term as president is to provide useful information to home buyers and home sellers through these messages.

As my last message, I would like to address two very different topics, but both important.

There has been speculation in various media about whether there is a housing bubble in Canada. What we mean by that is that due to various factors, prices rise and rise and rise and become inflated like a balloon or bubble of air, then pop and deflate dramatically. We have all watched what has happened in the American housing market.

I don’t want to comment on real estate markets in other areas, but I would like to say that there is no reason to believe that a housing bubble exists in our market area. Not only has the Hamilton area proven to have a stable market area over the years, it is the only area in Southwes....

(December 6, 2011 – Hamilton, Ontario) The real estate market in the Greater Hamilton, Burlington and outlying areas* continued to show increases in listings, sales and average sale price when compared to the same month last year, according to Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) statistics released today by the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

The residential condominium market saw the largest gain with an 11.2 per cent increase in the number of sales when compared to November of last year. The same market also saw a 6.1 per cent increase in average sale price over the same month last year. The 189 condominium sales were better than the ten-year average of 179 sales for the month.

In the residential freehold market, sales were up slightly less than two per cent over the same month last year and average sale price was up 8.7 per cent.

Listings were up over both last year and the 10-year average in all sectors.

“We are continuing to see....

(November 4, 2011 – Hamilton, Ontario) The real estate market in the Greater Hamilton, Burlington and outlying areas* continued to show increases in listings, sales and average sale price when compared to the same month last year, according to Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) statistics released today by the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

The residential condominium market saw the largest gain with an 11.8 per cent increase in the number of sales when compared to October of last year. The same market also saw a 5.9 per cent increase in average sale price over the same month last year. The 199 condominium sales were better than the ten-year average of 194 sales for the month.

In the residential freehold market, sales were up less than one per cent over the same month last year and average sale price was up 5.1 per cent.

Listings were up over both last year and the 10-year average in all sectors.

“October was certainly a good month....