Home sales on the rise in the east from Pickering to Belleville – Oshawa still Durham’s leader
Published April 5, 2024 at 4:50 pm
Home sales in Durham Region in March are holding steady from last year – 859 last month vs 860 in March 2023 – and beginning its annual spring climb, with sales up each month so far this year.
Sale prices are up slightly to $936,166 from last March’s average of $925,151 and the Central Lakes Association of Realtors, which covers the area east of Toronto as far as Belleville, reported month-over-month increases across all its regions from this time in 2023, with new listings up 25 per cent from 2,140 in February to 2,688 in March.
“Market conditions have shown improvement over the past quarter, with homeowners seemingly anticipating a positive shift in the spring market, evidenced by the significant increase in transactions and new listings so far this year,” said CLAR President Vicki Sweeney. “Another contributing factor is the Bank of Canada’s decision to hold interest rates.”
Oshawa is the sales leader in Durham, with 270 sales last month and 444 so far this year. Whitby was second with 164 sales last month, followed by Clarington at 153 and Pickering at 119. Year-to-date sales have the same order, with Whitby in second at 260, followed by Clarington at 255 and Pickering at 240.
Oshawa was also the sales volume leader with $216.77 million in March and $520.6 million year-to-date, despite the average selling price being among the lowest in Durham at just over $800,000. Pickering and Whitby home prices are both just above the $1 million mark (Ajax is just under) while home prices in Uxbridge Township, with just 40 sales last month and 57 this year, average more than $1.3 million.
Detached home sales led the way in March, with 533 sales of the 859 total in Durham Region, with townhouses next with 129. Year-to-date sales for the region have detached homes again at the top with 1,345 total sales, with townhouse sales numbering 327. There have been 2,138 home sales in Durham so far this year.
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CLAR CEO Wendy Giroux praised the Province for including housing incentives and a $190 billion investment in infrastructure, transit and the building sector in its recent budget as a reason for optimism.
“While a step in the right direction, it’s imperative that we continue to advocate all levels of government to keep housing a priority,” she said.
Over the past decade home sales peaked in 2021 – the first year of the pandemic – with 14,717 homes sales in the CLAR region before dropping to 9,875 in 2022 and 8,023 last year.
