October 2024 Real Estate Market Update

Well, it’s been a strange month in real estate. Here is an in-depth report on the market as a whole across Brantford and Brant County.

The average sale price in Brant County was up to $620,000, a small increase from August. There were 100 sales in September, which is actually the same as in August and the same as in September last year. Interestingly, while Brantford is much larger now than it was 10 years ago, 2024 has been our slowest year for total sales in the past decade.

Inventory levels are at historic highs, as you can see from the chart below. While there are plenty of homes on the market, fewer new listings will come on as we head into winter. Inventory will start to decrease as sales begin to outpace new listings, and we’ll likely see a low point around Christmas as homes get picked off the market.

Mortgage rates have continued to decrease, thanks to a drop in the U.S. at the end of last month. We’re expecting another rate drop on October 23rd, and again on December 11th. With these changes, we could see fixed rates in the 3’s, which would really give the market a boost!

One stat you might not hear often is the "months of supply," which is an important one. It measures how long it would take to sell all current listings if no new homes were listed. Right now, we’re at the highest level in the past four years, but we expect this to head back down soon. If you break it down by price range, there’s a big difference—homes under $600,000 are moving quickly, but for homes over $1 million, we have more than a year’s worth of inventory.

When it comes to pricing, most homes are selling close to the asking price. Some are going for slightly more, and others for slightly less, but there aren’t any huge discounts or bidding wars. What this doesn’t show is the strategy many sellers are using—canceling and relisting or adjusting the price. So while a home might show as selling for the asking price, it could have gone through several price adjustments along the way.

In Brantford, there were 19 sales this past week, with all but three homes priced in the $700s or below. In Brant County, there were 9 sales, with the highest being a property I sold on Robinson Rd for $1.6 million. Other than two new builds, this is the highest residential sale in the past six months—a great sign that there are still buyers in the high-end market!

The condo market, which is still a newer segment in Brantford, has been slow, with just 8 sales last month. The highest sale was $405,000, but I’m looking to break that record this month with some healthy sales on both Morrell and Norman.

Lastly, there were 13 townhome sales last month, with my sale on Park Rd North being the highest at $700,000. I have some really gorgeous townhomes coming up in the next few months, and I’m confident we’ll beat this number by quite a bit!

The average day on the market is around 50 at the moment, so the best advice I can give is to remain patient. As more homes sell and fewer come on the market, we should see a much stronger market right before the end of the year, and we’ll get all our listings sold!