Southwestern Ontario Home Sales Jump in September

If you’re looking at houses for sale in Brantford, a recent report in the Globe and Mail might make you accelerate your shopping. 

Home sales in Canada jumped a whopping 15.5 percent this September, when compared to this time last year.  Record selling and buying activity across the country seems to have dampened concerns over a market slow down feared earlier this year.  Now, affordability concerns are rising again in markets all over the country, especially in the large urban centres.

According to a report released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), Toronto area home sales were up 21 percent, while in Vancouver they rose 45 percent.  This marks the seventh month in a row that home sales in Canada have grown, meaning those of us who thought the slowdown had begun after sales hit a 6-year low back in February, better think again.  This sales increase has also affected housing markets in the suburbs, as areas like Hamilton, Burlington, St. Catharines, Burlington and even further west are experiencing an influx of buyers looking for a place to set down roots.

Of course, with the increase in activity come higher prices, a factor which has been most heavily manifested in the urban markets of Toronto and Vancouver.  In Toronto, the CREA’s composite benchmark home prices have risen some 5 percent to a record figure of $806,700.  The Hamilton-Burlington zone saw prices increase by 7 percent to $620,700, while the Niagara area has risen to $423,300, and increase of 8 percent.  The Canada-wide figure is lower, but still a substantial benchmark of $629,200 representing a 1 percent increase.  Houses for sale in Brantford and other suburbs have seen increases as well but homes here still remain affordable, even if competition is increasing.

These high prices for houses are a major issue for next weeks federal election, with the major parties all promising action to make houses more affordable, particularly for first-time home buyers.  Buyers are finding it difficult to find homes they can afford all over the country, but especially in the large cities.  The fact of the matter is that major markets like Toronto for example, are just not affordable for many hopeful home buyers.  This means buyers are looking to the suburbs for homes that they can afford.  Growing cities, like Brantford, are among the top picks because not only are these communities affordable, they’re growing fast and offer amazing potential returns on buyer investments.  Mortgage broker Brian Hogben, who serves the Hamilton area has noticed that “They (home buyers) are now moving funds into the St. Catharines and Niagara market.  The upswing potential is still quite large.”  The ethos of “buy cheap and sell high” is alive and well, just not in large cities like Toronto or Vancouver, where high prices and competition make investing in real estate very difficult. 

In 2018, Brantford was voted as one of the top 3 Canadian cities to buy real estate in by MoneySense for the fourth year running.  Of course, living and working here we know that our city is great, but the downtown expansion, the growing Brantford campuses of Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College, as well as the many proposed developments (One Wellington and the Market Street project) have put our city into transformation mode.  Brantford’s population is expected to grow by more than 60% over the next couple decades, and it’s these new residents and investors that provide the growing strength of the city’s economy, along with the steady increase in house prices and the general buzz around buying a house in Brantford.

If you’re interested in buying a home, Brantford is definitely one of the top cities you need to check out during your home search.  We are resident experts on all things Brantford real estate, so don’t hesitate to give us a shout and find out what our beautiful city has to offer.