Average sale price for Hamilton property jumps $45,000 from last September

The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington says there was a 13 per cent increase for the average sale price of property in Hamilton in September 2012 compared to last year — but not to read too deeply into those numbers.

"We are seeing an uplift of 13 per cent, but it's always good for your realtor to look at longer-term trends so that it's not just a statistical blip," said Cameron Nolan, RAHB president.

Nolan says his personal sense is the increase is mostly a blip.

"I'm comfortable that we're still seeing a fairly stable market," he said, adding that housing prices have been rising steadily in Hamilton for about five years.

The average sale price for property in Hamilton went up by just over $45,000 — from $321,244 last September to $366,428 this September.

He also said September can be a difficult month to read, statistically speaking.

"You lose that first week or week-and-a-half because of people in school," Nolan said. "September can be a little less reliable for that reason."

There were 113 fewer properties on the market in the region this September, going from 1,943 in September 2011 to 1,830 in 2012. Sales were down by just over 21 per cent in that time frame, dropping from 1,161 to 913.

Average days on the market for residential properties dropped too, going from 54 days to 45 days.

"Our ratio of sales to new listings was at a little over 53 per cent in the month of September," Nolan said. "While that would suggest we are in more of a balanced market at the moment, we will have to see what happens in the next few months before concluding there is a market shift at play."

He added that Hamilton could be seeing a shift from "more of a sellers market to a buyers market," but more time would be needed to draw that conclusion.