The real estate market, like our baby ducks, was full of activity. Yet it was, in one word, cautious.
The ducklings are inquisitive, always wondering what’s on the other side of the door, wall, fence or shoulder. They’re incredibly vocal, and they have no inhibition when it comes to vocalizing their alarm, happiness, discontent, or contentment. In fact, they’re only quiet when they sleep. We’ve had them since they were a day old, and today they are 4 weeks old, and growing incredibly quickly!
Their counterparts, the baby chicks, we’ve hatched from eggs, watching patiently as they broke through their shell and entered the world as peeping, fuzzy little birds. They make their home in a safe little tote next to the ducks, and there’s one baby chick that has learned to use its wings. It will fly up and occasionally drop down into the ducks’ area, much to their alarm, at which point they are sure to make a racket as though a wolf has invaded their space.
All while we’re farming our way through May, we had to sneak up to the cottage on the long weekend and open it for the season. That’s always a fun weekend. During this time of year, we always expect a lot of black flies, and they were sure not to disappoint! On top of that, it was the weekend that pollen was dropping, and blowing through the air like a light snowfall, or a mist on cool morning. One new water pump later (there’s always something to fix!), the cottage was opened and we were heading back home.
On top of raising tiny birds and opening the cottage, we managed to list 5 gorgeous homes. Going a head above means that Emese was busy staging many of them, paying close attention to the unique attributes of each home and making each room showcase its full potential with her incredible staging.
Like we mentioned above, the real estate market in May was cautious. Yet, Hamilton and Niagara performed much differently despite their close geographical proximity to one another.
In both markets, inventory rose significantly. The biggest differences between the two markets were the unit sales and the median price. Buyers throughout the markets are hesitant to make a move. Some are waiting for interest rates to drop, while others are working on increasing their savings to be able to reduce the amount that they borrow for their first home. Despite the reason, buyers are not as eager to buy as they were in previous years, so it has become more important than ever to price listings appropriately.
Here are the numbers for May, 2024 in Hamilton and Niagara.
The number of unit sales in May was:
- ⬆️ to 618 in Hamilton (up 4.22% from April)
- ⬇️ to 617 in Niagara (down 1.59% from April)
The median home price in April was:
- ⬆️ Up 1.33% from April in Hamilton, to $759,500
- ⬇️ Down 4.55% from April in Niagara, to $630,000.
has increased in both markets:
- 🗓️ Hamilton’s inventory sits at 2.90 months or 88 days, up from 78 days in April.
- 🗓️ Niagara’s inventory sits at 4.53 months or 138 days, up from 117 days in April.
As always, if you or your family, friends, coworkers or neighbours are thinking about making a move in real estate, we would love to go “a head above” for them. We are never too busy for any of your referrals!
