Last month, 539 homes were sold in Niagara Region. That compares to 377 homes in October 2023. Photo Credit: iStock.
The Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) released its October market update on the local housing market, noting that many more homes were sold last month than during the same month in 2023.
Last month, 539 homes were sold in Niagara Region. That compares to 377 homes in October 2023.
In October, 1,274 listings were added to the market, compared to 1,207 in October 2023. The average sale time was 43 days, up from 37 a year prior.
That means that slightly more homes went on the market compared to last year but many more sold, pointing to more demand for housing despite a relatively stable supply.
Niagara Association of Realtors President Nathan Morissette weighed in on Niagara’s real estate market, which he believes is heating up.
“With the amount of sales increasing 43 per cent from last October and increasing 10.5 per cent from last month it’s a good indicator that things are trending in the right direction and buyers are definitely coming off the sidelines,” said Morisette.
“Buyers are gaining confidence in the market with the Bank of Canada announcement reducing the policy interest rate by 0.50 per cent a few weeks ago and some mortgage rule changes coming in December.”
The federal government recently introduced mortgage rule changes that allow for 30-year mortgages for new homebuyers. The Bank of Canada has also decreased interest rates over the past few months, bringing them down from the highest rates seen in over a decade. That includes a 0.5 percentage point rate cut last month. More decreases are expected in the coming months.
The benchmark price in Niagara Region for October was $638,500. That’s slightly lower compared to September and also slightly lower than the benchmark price was in October 2023.
A “benchmark” home is a home between the age of 51 and 99 with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a gross living area (above ground square footage) of 1,262 feet.
Within Niagara Region, the greatest number of new listings were found in St. Catharines (309), Niagara Falls (262), Welland (159) and Fort Erie (132). The largest year-over-year gain was in Port Colborne-Wainfleet, which saw the number of houses on the market increase from 63 a year ago to 88 last month.
The average listing price was the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake ($988,400), while the lowest average listing price was in Port Colborne-Wainfleet ($514,400).
Houses tend to be on the market the shortest in Lincoln, with an average for sale time of 30 days, while houses tend to be on the market the longest in Pelham, with an average sale time of 57 days.
Those numbers are somewhat different from a year ago. The average listing price was also the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake in October 2023, but the average listing price was $1,034,500. The lowest average listing price in October 2023 was in Welland, which was $518,100. The average listing price is Welland has now risen above the average listing price in Port Colborne-Wainfleet.
Back in October 2023, the average length of houses being on the market was lowest in Niagara Falls (28 days) and highest in Pelham (48 days). Lincoln now has the shortest average duration of houses on the market (30 days), while Pelham still has the longest (57 days).
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
