| “…Sales in March reached 996 units, nearly six per cent lower than last year’s levels. The decline in March sales was not enough to offset the gains reported over the first two months of 2024. However, first-quarter sales in the region remain below long-term trends for the year.
Meanwhile, new listings have continued to rise, keeping the sales-to-new listings ratio below 60 per cent and supporting further inventory gains. Inventory levels have increased by 28 per cent compared to last March, but levels last year were still exceptionally low.
‘Recent gains in inventory are helping our market return to more balanced conditions, something that we have not seen since 2014. It is still early in the year, and many purchasers may be waiting for changes in lending rates, but for the first time in years, we are not entering the spring market with limited supply,’ says Julie Sergi, President-Elect of the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).
Inventory levels in March closed out with just over two months of supply. This is an increase over last year but lower than the four months of supply reported at the end of 2023.
Conditions are the tightest in the Burlington region, with less than two months of supply. Haldimand saw the highest supply-to-demand ratios, with just below four months of supply.
The unadjusted benchmark price rose to $850,500 this March, nearly two per cent higher than March 2023. Prices trended up across all regions in the RAHB market area, with the largest year-over-year gain occurring in Haldimand, followed by Hamilton. Prices remain below the 2022 peak but are still much higher than levels reported prior to the pandemic…” |
