Re/Max report confirms housing market cooler in Oakville, Burlington, Milton
Published August 18, 2022 at 4:52 pm
A recent report confirms the housing market is slowing down in Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills.
While detached housing values show substantial year-over-year gains in the first half of 2022, successive increases to the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate put a damper on price appreciation in the second quarter of the year in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a report released today by Re/Max Canada.
To illustrate, the 2022 Re/Max Hot Pocket Communities Report compared market activity in the first and second quarter of 2022 in terms of unit sales and prices, analyzing 60 Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) districts.
In the GTA, Halton surrendered some of the staggering gains realized in recent years.
“Buyer sentiment changed virtually overnight as growing geopolitical concerns and spiraling inflation destabilized global markets, leaving the Bank of Canada little option but to raise interest rates,” said Christopher Alexander, president, Re/Max Canada.
“Those fast and furious incremental increases placed downward pressure on housing sales and prices, improving affordability on one hand, but eroding it on the other.”
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The Re/Max report found second quarter values in Halton were down 12.7 per cent. Just 15 per cent of GTA markets noted an uptick in average price in the second quarter compared to the heated first.
“While we have seen some easing in prices, the sky is nowhere near falling,” said Elton Ash, executive vice-president, Re/Max Canada.
“In fact, there is relative stability in terms of market conditions, so buyers shouldn’t expect big bargains. Sales-to-active listings remain squarely in balanced territory overall and even tight in some areas. This trend will likely keep prices fairly stable moving forward.”
Also noted was a reversal in pandemic trends over the past six months, as work from home situations change and buyers rethink the exodus to suburban and rural areas.
Detached home sales rose in 40 per cent of markets surveyed in the GTA in the second quarter of 2022.
“For those buyers who were active in Q2, improved housing affordability due to easing prices and the threat of higher rates down the road clearly provided the impetus for many to leap into detached home ownership,” said Alexander.
“Greater selection, particularly in coveted hot pockets, also played a significant role in April and May as the pandemic-fuelled buying spree drew to a close. Buyers locked into five-year fixed terms as the overnight rate hovered between one per cent in early April to 1.5 per cent in early June.”
The top end of the market has also proven resilient overall throughout the GTA, with detached housing sales over $2 million up 10 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2021.
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