🍂 Fall Arrives. 📊 Buyers Gain Ground. 🏡 Opportunity Takes Shape.
✨ FAMILY & HOME UPDATE
September brought another change of season for our family as Jacob and Chiara headed back to school for Grade 12. It is hard to believe that their final year of high school has arrived! As they settle back into the rhythm of classes, they are also beginning to look more seriously at what comes after graduation and narrow down their post-secondary plans.
For Henk and Emese, September also brought a long-awaited adventure. After an incredibly busy summer of work and moving, we headed west for a road trip that had been on our bucket list for years. Beginning in Montana, we travelled through some absolutely spectacular landscapes, from the Beartooth Highway and mountains of the west, through Oregon and its diversity of mountains, forests, winding rivers, high desert and beautiful coastline, into the towering redwoods of Northern California, and eventually down the California coast to San Francisco, Monterey and Carmel.
Along the way, we celebrated our anniversary and enjoyed exactly what we had hoped for: time together, miles and miles of spectacular scenery, plenty of opportunities to explore, and a chance to slow down after an exceptionally busy season of life. From mountains and forests to rugged coastlines and enormous redwoods, the incredible variety and beauty of God’s creation left us in awe over and over again.
Our trip even came with a surprise bonus day when our flight home from San Francisco was cancelled! It certainly wasn’t how we planned to finish the vacation, but after thousands of kilometres on the road, one extra day together wasn’t the worst consolation prize.
Now we’re home, the kids are back into their school routines, work is keeping us busy, and another season is underway.
🏡 FEATURED LISTING
1 John Avenue, Paris
Now offered at $564,800
This charming 1910 century home offers nearly 2,200 square feet of character-filled living space at a fantastic new price. With 5 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, two separate entrances, a main-floor bedroom and laundry, and a flexible layout that once functioned as a duplex, there are plenty of possibilities for a growing family or multi-generational living.
Set on a quiet corner lot with mature trees and just minutes from the charming downtown core, Grand River, restaurants, shops, parks and trails, $564,800 represents exceptional value for this much space in Paris.
📊 HAMILTON MARKET UPDATE
💵 Median Price: $650,000 ▼ 6.34% (from $694,000)
💰 Average Price: $730,251 ▼ 4.69% (from $766,185)
🏘️ Unit Sales: 308 ▼ (from 329, -21)
⏱️ Median Days on Market: 55
📦 Inventory: 6.17 months (188 days) ▲ (from 5.50 months / 167 days)
🆕 New Listings: 1,045 ▲ (from 829, +216)
🛠️ WHAT WE’RE SEEING ON THE GROUND
September’s numbers reinforce what we have been seeing on the ground: this has become an increasingly challenging market for sellers.
Homes are taking longer to sell, inventory has climbed above six months, and both the median and average sale prices declined considerably from August. At the same time, new listings jumped by more than 200 while unit sales actually fell. Buyers simply have more properties to choose from and less reason to rush into a decision.
Economic uncertainty and the rising cost of living are undoubtedly playing a role. Many homeowners are feeling pinched by higher household expenses, while buyers are increasingly focused on finding value. Whether it is a growing family needing more space or retirees hoping to downsize, selling the existing home is becoming the more challenging side of the equation.
For buyers, however, this environment presents opportunity. With plenty of inventory available, there is time to compare properties, conduct proper due diligence, and negotiate. Buyers who are financially prepared are in one of the strongest negotiating positions we’ve seen in quite some time.
For sellers, this doesn’t mean homes aren’t selling. It means the margin for error has become much smaller. A home that is priced according to today’s market, properly prepared, staged well, and move-in ready can still attract buyers and sell successfully. But pricing based on what a neighbour received two or three years ago, or even what a similar home sold for earlier this year, can leave a property sitting while buyers move on to the competition.
This is precisely the kind of market where good advice matters. Understanding the data, the competition, and what buyers are actually responding to allows us to help our sellers position themselves effectively while helping our buyers recognize when a genuine opportunity appears.
As always, we’ll keep our thumb on the pulse.
🕯️REFLECTION FOR THE MONTH
One of the great privileges of our road trip was simply having the time to look around.
We stood among trees that have towered over the earth for centuries. We drove through mountains that made our vehicle seem impossibly small. We followed the rugged Pacific coastline for miles, watching waves crash against cliffs and beaches, and saw landscapes so vast that photographs simply couldn’t capture them.
It is difficult to experience places like these without thinking of the words of the Psalmist:
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And the expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
Psalm 19:1
Creation is extraordinary, but its beauty ultimately points beyond itself to its Creator.
The mountains, oceans, forests and stars are not God, but they display His power, wisdom and creativity. And perhaps most humbling of all is that the God who made all of it knows us personally.
The same Creator whose handiwork stretches farther than we can see entered His creation in the person of Jesus Christ. He became one of us, lived among us, and accomplished the redemption of His people through His death and resurrection.
After travelling thousands of kilometres and seeing just a tiny fraction of this remarkable world, we came home in awe of creation, but even more in awe of its Creator. Creation is worthy of our wonder, but the Creator is worthy of our worship.
🔭 LOOKING AHEAD
Fall is shaping up to be another busy season.
We have a fantastic Brantford property preparing to come to market, loaded with updates and featuring a newly finished basement along with a large detached garage/shop that is both heated and cooled, all in a great neighbourhood. Keep an eye on our website and social media for more details as it gets closer to market.
We’re also already looking a little further ahead. Christmas Eve choir rehearsals have begun at Winona Gospel Church as we prepare for our annual Candlelight Service. If you’d like to hear the Christmas story, sing some well-known Christmas carols, and hear the choir present music celebrating the birth of Jesus, mark your calendar for 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve. We’d love to have you join us, and you’ll still be home in plenty of time for a cozy Christmas Eve!
🤝 THANK YOU
Thank you for continuing to trust us with your real estate questions, purchases, sales, and referrals. Markets like this one show why careful research, sound advice, and a strategy tailored to each client’s circumstances matter so much.
As always, we are never too busy for your referrals.
