In February, 1,073 residential properties were on the market, compared to 817 in 2023. The average sale time was 48 days last month, the exact same as it was one year ago. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Images.
The Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) released its February market update on the local housing market, noting that more homes were on the market last month than a year prior.
In February, 1,073 residential properties were on the market, compared to 817 in 2023. The average sale time was 48 days last month, the exact same as it was one year ago.
There were 519 sales in the region last month as well. That’s up from 449 sales in February of 2023.
“Everything is heading in the right direction,” said Niagara Association of Realtors President Nathan Morrissette.
Morrissette noted that the number of new listings, the number of sales and the benchmark price all increased from January to February, but also encouraged buyers not to be deterred.
“Each municipality and even neighbourhood can have variations and even in the midst of an upward trending market there are still some deals out there,” said Morrissette. “Being prepared and ready when those deals arrive is key.”
The benchmark price for February was $619,600. That’s up from January, but it’s also 2.6 per cent lower than the $636,200 benchmark price was in February of 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 (279), Niagara Falls (178), Welland (128) and Fort Erie (127). The largest year-over-year gain was in St. Catharines, which saw the number of houses on the market increase from 193 a year ago to 279 last month.
The average listing price was the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake ($992,400), while the lowest average listing price was in Fort Erie ($523,400).
Houses tend to be on the market the shortest in West Lincoln and St. Catharines, with an average for sale time of 41 days, while houses tend to be on the market the longest in Fort Erie, with an average sale time of 59 days.
Those numbers are somewhat different from a year ago. The average listing price was also the highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake in February of 2023, but the average listing price was $1,020,600. The lowest average listing price in February of 2023 was in Port Colborne/Wainfleet, which was $504,100. Fort Erie now has the lowest average home price in Niagara Region.
Back in February of 2023, the average length of houses being on the market was lowest in St. Catharines (34 days) and highest in Niagara-on-the-Lake (68 days). St. Catharines still has the shortest average duration of houses on the market (41 days), while Niagara-on-the-Lake has been edged out by Fort Erie (59 days) for the title of the longest.
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.
