Sifting through all the frequent – and sometimes contradictory – new stories about the real estate market can sometimes be daunting. Most stories focus on large, unusual markets like Vancouver or Toronto, or they speak in generalities about Canadian real estate. This says little about local market areas like those served by the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
So where can someone in Hamilton or Caledonia or Ancaster get good, solid information about their real estate market?
The best place to start is to speak with a REALTOR® who works in that area. RAHB members – REALTORS® – have access to a wealth of information from their own experience and from information available to them through their membership in our association. A REALTOR® has the experience and expertise to advise on current market conditions, what kinds of properties are selling best, what makes properties more marketable and much more. They also have at their fingertips data about sales or listing activity in all areas of the RAHB market area.
Another good source of information is Facebook. If you are a Facebook member, check out our page at www.facebook.com/RAHBNews. In addition to posting links and news items of interest to home buyers or sellers, we also post monthly market activity charts. The “Market Activity in Selected RAHB Areas” charts show the number of sales and average sale price of 14 communities in the RAHB market area. Hamilton is broken down into four areas – Hamilton East, Hamilton West, Hamilton Centre and Hamilton Mountain – and communities – Ancaster, Glanbrook, Dundas, Flamborough, Stoney Creek, and Waterdown. Other communities in the RAHB market area included on the charts are Burlington, Caledonia, Dunnville and Grimsby.
The charts show the numbers of sales and average sale prices for the current year and the previous year. Charts are posted for every month back to January of 2011, and can be compared to see how the market has changed from month to month.
A word of caution about the Market Activity charts on Facebook. The information is accurate, although only a snapshot in time that can change quickly. The charts show market activity for a specific month, but do not show trends or indicate how the mix of properties sold in, say, August of 2012 compared to the mix of properties sold in August of 2011. The information in the chart is useful as a general view of how the market is performing compared to the same month in the previous year. Have a look at them and then ask your REALTOR® to assist you to interpret what they mean in terms of your own real estate interest.
One more good source of information is the RAHB website at www.rahb.ca. On this site are our latest press releases with monthly market activity, information about buying and selling, links to other real estate-related organizations, a link to REALTOR.ca (a Canada-wide real estate advertising site), and a link to OpenHouses.ca, which lists all weekend open houses in the RAHB market area.
Frequent visitors to rahb.ca will soon notice a big change to the website; we are currently updating the site to offer even more information to consumers.
Cameron Nolan
President, 2012