August 16th 2020
The market continues to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and that recovery is truly remarkable. Both units sold and average residential price have rebounded again in July outdistancing the previous month and also the corresponding month a year ago before COVID was on anyone’s radar screen. Let’s begin with a look at unit sales.
*Sales data provided by the Niagara Association of Realtors and the Hamilton-Burlington Realtors Association as submitted through Brokerage Members inputted MLS sales.
Almost every municipality shows gains in unit sales. St. Catharines for example registered 285 sales in July, up 81 from the 204 registered in June, an increase of 39.7% and compared to the 217 in July 2019 that represents an increase of 31.3%. Remarkable!
Looking at the entire region, a record setting total of 1047 sales were tabulated in July, up 222 or 26.9% from June and up 275 or 35.6% from July 2019. That’s really astounding. Not only is the market responding at a rate that completely ignores the Pandemic, but it is also making up for lost time. Take a minute to look at the sales volumes compared to 2019 and 2018 as depicted on a graph.
*Sales data provided by the Niagara Association of Realtors and the Hamilton-Burlington Realtors Association as submitted through Brokerage Members inputted MLS sales.
And the exact same thing is true with housing prices. We saw over the first few months after COVID hit, reports indicating that prices flattened somewhat but simply did not drop significantly from the impact of the Pandemic. But what we are seeing now mid COVID is continuous upward movement of prices across the region and into record setting territory.
*Sales data provided by the Niagara Association of Realtors and the Hamilton-Burlington Realtors Association as submitted through Brokerage Members inputted MLS sales.
In July 2020 the average residential sale price across the region came in at $579,087. That’s 5.49% above the previous monthly average of $548,975 and a whopping 25.40% above last July’s average of $461,797. And here’s another interesting fact to consider. April 2017 was a benchmark in a way. The market was heating up in 2015 and 2016 and into early 2017. Then the foreign buyer spec. tax and the mortgage stress test were introduced into the market and the upward momentum stopped. Sales volumes and home prices both fell. A lot of people figured the real estate heyday was over. But wait a minute. April 2017 saw average residential home prices hit a peak of $427,143 (by the end of the year that average had fallen to $408,578.) But now, here we are July 2020 and the average price has risen by $151,944 or 35.6% from the peak achieved in April 2017, in spite of the Pandemic.
Here in Niagara, home buyers as well as speculators, renovators and investors are active in the marketplace. And significant numbers of all these buyer types are from the GTA. No doubt affordability still plays a prominent role, as does lifestyle. But one thing COVID-19 has done is introduced people, employers and employees alike, to the possibility of work-from-home. And with that, the flood gates are opening up for commuters from Toronto to discover and enjoy the possibility of making Niagara their home, even before retirement.