Hamilton home prices continue to climb as GTA buyers 'drive until they qualify'

• By Mike Heddle
• Posted Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022 11:12 am

Hamilton home prices continue to climb as GTA buyers 'drive until they qualify'

Buyers can expect another decade of ‘strong price appreciation’ in the city, according to Royal LePage

The average price of a single-family home in Hamilton has grown by more than 35 per cent since this time last year, according to a new report from Royal LePage. 

Released Tuesday, the Canadian real estate firm’s latest house price survey showed that in the first quarter of 2021, a single-family home in the city would typically cost around $732,000. 

That number has since jumped to $992,500 in the first quarter of this year — marking a difference of $260,000 in just 12 months time. 

Mike Heddle, a broker with Royal LePage State Realty, said prices of homes in Hamilton continue to climb as people are forced out of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), leading them “drive until they qualify” in secondary markets. 

The median price of a detached home in GTA soared to $1.59 million in the first quarter of this year, according to the report.

“It really effects us,” he said, noting that Hamilton has been historically undervalued. “They can buy more house here.” 

Heddle said that “strong price appreciation” was apparent in the first quarter of this year, where house prices in Hamilton jumped by more than 15 per cent.

He noted that low supply and high demand in the earlier part of the year played into that growth, but buyers could see some reprieve this spring, a time that traditionally brings more homes to market.

“We’re starting to see behaviours where there aren’t 10, 15 or 20 offers on a property, but there might only be a handful,” said Heddle. 

But that seasonal swell in inventory doesn’t equal...[READ MORE]