Hamilton, ON (Jan 2, 2024) –
For the second year in a row, the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported a decline in residential sales. In 2023, sales were 11 per cent lower than the previous year and nearly 30 per cent below long-term trends for the region.
“Lending rates have not been at these levels in two decades, which is weighing on housing demand. What we saw in 2023 is that higher-priced detached and semi-detached properties were the primary drivers of sales declines. Sales improved for homes priced below $600,000, but this range only represents 20 per cent of supply,” says Nicolas von Bredow, President of RAHB.
Inventory levels generally trended up throughout 2023. In the first half of the year, the pullback in new listings relative to sales prevented a rapid acceleration in inventory levels, keeping market conditions relatively tight. However, by the second half of the year, we started to see an uptick in new listings, causing the sales to new listings ratio to fall, driving steeper inventory gains and causing the months of supply to push above four months.
Tighter conditions earlier in the year caused prices to trend up over the levels reported at the end of 2022. However, as supply increased in the latter half of 2023, we saw downward pressure on home prices. The average benchmark price fell by nearly nine per cent over the previous year erasing much of the gains reported in 2022. However, prices remain consistent with 2021 levels and are well above pre-pandemic.