Hamilton housing market sees slowest January since 2011

• By Mike Heddle
• Posted Monday, Feb 13, 2023 12:40 pm

Hamilton housing market sees slowest January since 2011

The Hamilton housing market saw its slowest start to the year in more than a decade in January, the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington reported Thursday. 

Just 349 residential properties were sold in the city last month, marking the lowest number of sales in the first month of the year since 2011, according to a press release. That number also represents a more than 21 per cent drop in home sales in Steeltown since last January. 

But what held buyers back?

RAHB president Lou Piriano told The Spectator the fall in sales was “understandable” given the impact of the Bank of Canada’s key rate hikes from 0.25 per cent in March to 4.5 per cent on Jan. 25.

And it may take up to two years for the tide on interest rates to turn, noted Piriano.

When that does happen, Piriano said there could be a “rush back to the market,” a situation he predicts will also draw home prices — which have been dwindlingfor nearly 10 months — back up in the city. 

In January, the average sale price for a house in Hamilton sank to $750,529, marking a 22.3 per cent tumble from the same time last year — and a more than $292,000 gap from last February, when prices skyrocketed to an all-time high.

However, Piriano said prices are “still ahead” of those seen pre-pandemic and the rate at which they’ve dropped “has slowed” in the city. The average sale price in Steeltown fell by just...[READ MORE]