Last month, 503 homes were sold in Niagara Region. That compares to 522 homes in July of 2023. Photo Credit: iStock.
The Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) released its July market update on the local housing market, noting that fewer homes were sold last month than during the same month in 2023.
Last month, 503 homes were sold in Niagara Region. That compares to 522 homes in July of 2023.
In July 1,280 new listings were added to the market, compared to 1,345 in July 2023. The average sale time was 42 days, up from 32 a year prior.
That means fewer homes went on the market compared to last year and fewer sold, pointing to a likely slowdown in Niagara’s housing sector. Similar statistics were reported in June.
Niagara Association of Realtors President Nathan Morissette noted in a press release that the Bank of Canada’s recent interest rate cuts might take time to be felt in the market.
“Buyers are still hesitant and are afforded the time to be selective,” said Morisette. “With the recent Bank of Canada interest rate drop it will take time before we see any change and will likely take more drops to have any meaningful impact in Niagara.”
The benchmark price in Niagara Region for July was $646,900. That’s down slightly from June and it’s also $22,200 lower than the $669,100 benchmark price was in July 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 (337), Niagara Falls (269), Welland (177) and Fort Erie (134). The largest year-over-year gain was in Thorold, which saw the number of houses on the market increase from 83 a year ago to 101 last month.
The average listing price was the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake ($996,800), while the lowest average listing price was in Port Colborne-Wainfleet ($547,400).
Houses tend to be on the market the shortest in St. Catharines, with an average for sale time of 28 days, while houses tend to be on the market the longest in Port Colborne-Wainfleet, with an average sale time of 58 days.
Those numbers are somewhat different from a year ago. The average listing price was also the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake in July 2023, but the average listing price was $1,072,300. The lowest average listing price in July 2023 was in Port Colborne-Wainfleet, which was $534,100. Port Colborne-Wainfleet remained the lowest in July 2024 at $547,400, but Welland wasn’t far behind at $553,900.
Back in July 2023, the average length of houses being on the market was lowest in Lincoln (19 days) and highest in Fort Erie (62 days). St. Catharines now has the shortest average duration of houses on the market (28 days), while West Lincoln has the longest (56 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.
