Oshawa, Pickering now with balanced real estate markets – still seller’s paradise in rest of Durham

A slight cool down in housing prices in Oshawa and Pickering have turned the red-hot real estate scene in those two communities from sellers’ markets to balanced markets, where demand and supply even out.

Real estate brokerage Zoocasa analyzed market competition across 34 cities and regions in Ontario by comparing July sales and new listing data for each city. This data was then used to determine the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR) for the month, calculated by dividing the total sales by the number of new listings in each region.

SNLR is used to effectively show the level of demand and supply in each area and help identify how much competition local buyers face with regard to supply. All five of Durham Region’s largest towns were considered sellers’ markets a year ago, where the sales-to-new-listings were 60 per cent or higher, a situation that benefits sellers.

(A score under 40 per cent favours buyers. St. Catharines – 34 per cent – and Niagara Falls – 35 per cent – are the only two cities in the GTA-Hamilton/Niagara regions with buyers’ markets. They are also the only two markets with homes averaging less than the Canadian average of $668,200.)

Ajax (60 per cent), Clarington (61 per cent) and Whitby (61 per cent) are all still considered sellers’ markets.

Last year Pickering (62 per cent), Whitby (63 per cent), Ajax (64 per cent), Oshawa (65 per cent) and Clarington (65 per cent) were all markets that favour sellers.

After two interest rate hikes this summer, housing price growth has slowed across the country, according to the data. Supply is rebuilding as sales have slowed, meaning prospective buyers could soon reap the benefits of the increased inventory.

Of the 34 cities analyzed, 23 of the markets analyzed sit in a balanced state, including Oshawa and Pickering. This means that although inventory is tight in many of these markets, demand and supply are relatively balanced.

On the more expensive end, sellers still have the upper hand in Whitby, Ajax, Markham, Aurora and Burlington, where homes cost at least $1 million. While prices and home sales have fallen in each of these cities in the last month, the number of listed homes has also fallen, tightening demand and keeping each in the seller-friendly territory.

Of the towns in the survey with prices above the national average, Oshawa ($829,759), Hamilton ($847,087) and Clarington ($895,220) are among the least expensive, while Caledon ($1,389,854) and Oakville ($1,528,833) are among the most expensive markets in Ontario.