Real Estate Market May 2024

19 Jun Real Estate Market May 2024

Your May 2024 real estate market update is here! Covering Toronto, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton and the surrounding areas.

Highlights of the real estate market from TREBB and RAHB

May home sales continued at low levels, especially in comparison to last spring’s short-lived pick-up in market activity. Home buyers are still waiting for relief on the mortgage rate front. Existing homeowners are anticipating an uptick in demand, as evidenced by a year-over-year increase in new listings. With more choice compared to a year ago, buyers benefitted from more negotiating room on prices.

“Recent polling from Ipsos indicates that home buyers are waiting for clear signs of declining mortgage rates. As borrowing costs decrease over the next 18 months, more buyers are expected to enter the market, including many first-time buyers. This will open up much needed space in a relatively tight rental market,” stated Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) President Jennifer Pearce.

Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 7,013 home sales through TRREB’s MLS® System in May 2024 – a 21.7% decline compared to 8,960 sales reported in May 2023. New listings entered into the MLS® System amounted to 18,612 – up by 21.1% year-over-year.

The MLS® Home Price Index Composite benchmark was down by 3.5% on a year-over-year basis in May 2024. The average selling price of $1,165,691 was down by 2.5% over the May 2023 result of $1,195,409. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the average selling price edged up slightly compared to April 2024.

“While interest rates remained high in May, home buyers did continue to benefit from slightly lower selling prices compared to last year. We have seen selling prices adjust to mitigate the impact of higher mortgage rates. Affordability is expected to improve further as borrowing costs trend lower. However, as demand picks up, we will likely see renewed upward pressure on home prices as competition between buyers increases,” said TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer.

Over in the Hamilton-Burlington area, the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) noted 1,032 sales in May, marking a 20% decrease compared to the previous year and 31% below the long-term average for the month. This decline in sales was evident across all property types and was significant enough to counterbalance the gains seen earlier in the year, resulting in a 3% decrease in year-to-date sales.

A decline in sales was accompanied by an increase in new listings, resulting in a decrease in the sales-to-new-listings ratio to 46% in May. Although new listings showed improvement across various price brackets, the most significant surge was observed in homes priced above $1,000,000. Consequently, the collective effect of reduced sales and heightened new listings led to a notable 56% increase in inventory levels compared to May of the previous year, marking the highest May level reported since 2018.

“Inventory levels are on the rise across all price ranges, with the most significant increases observed in the higher-priced products. This surge can be attributed to the current high-interest rate environment, which is motivating more sellers to list their properties in this bracket. However, the flip side of this trend is that escalating costs and higher interest rates are affecting consumer affordability, causing some potential buyers to pause their purchasing decisions,” says Nicolas von Bredow, President of the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

The fluctuations in both sales and inventory levels have fostered the most balanced conditions in over a decade, effectively mitigating any notable shifts in home prices on a year-to-date basis. In May, the total unadjusted residential benchmark price stood at $868,300, reflecting a 1% increase compared to the previous month, yet nearly 1% lower than the levels recorded in May of the previous year

Questions about buying or selling? Reach out anytime, I’d be happy to discuss the market with you!

All the latest home prices and statistics by property type and city below!

Sources for Real Estate Market Update for May 2024 : Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington