March 2023 Oakville real estate update - bidding wars return

by

Banks started adjusting mortgages down in March and early April, as they considered the largest decline in the CPI since 2020. The significant change encouraged buyers, but sellers continued sitting on the sidelines in Oakville. Housing inventory is still well below demand which sparked a return to multiple offers. Only Oakville apartment prices showed a continued decline in March.

"Lower inflation and greater uncertainty in financial markets has resulted in medium-term bond yields to trend lower," commented TRREB Chief Market Analyst Jason Mercer in March 2023 Market Watch. 

"This has and will continue to result in lower fixed-rate borrowing costs this year. Lower borrowing costs will help from an affordability perspective, especially as tighter market conditions exert upward pressure on selling prices in the second half of 2023."

Bank of Canada's Tiff Macklem held the Bank of Canada rate as the Consumer Price Index fell to 5.2% or 0.7% in over a month. Statistics Canada states, "This was the largest deceleration in the headline CPI since April 2020." 

GTA Update

Across the GTA, owners sold 6,896 (or 3,966 fewer properties) in February 2023 than in  2022, a 36% decrease. Over the same period, GTA property values decreased by 14.6% to $1,108,606, down $190,060.

However, the price and number of units sold increased from February 2023. 

Oakville Update

During the last month, sellers in Oakville listed 436 properties and sold 278, both up from the previous month. Available inventory expanded to 2.5 months, up 0.1 from February.

The average residential property sold for $1.39 million, down $170,00 from February but still up from January; a sale took 26 days, down seven days from the previous month. 

Buyers, on average, were paying 100% of the listed price, up 2% from February. 

Year-over-year home prices

A typical residential property in Oakville is now going for $1.41 million, which has dropped by 15.38% since March 2022 but is up $40,000 from February 2023. An average detached home price is $1.82 million, down 14.7% but up $50,000 from the previous month. 

An attached home is $1.82 million, down 15.22% from a year ago but up $40,000 over the past month. A townhouse will run you 21.75% less at $914,400, again up by $61,100. A condominium apartment costs $650,200 - down 18.33% from last year and down from last month by $5,200.

February 2023 Oakville residential real estate statistics

DOM - total days a property is for sale; % LP to SP - the percentage difference between the list price and the sold price.

The best 5-year fixed-rate insured mortgage is 4.29%, which decreased by 0.09% from the February real estate update. However, a 3-year variable rate is available at 5.09%, down .56%. 

"As population growth continues at a record pace on the back of immigration, first-time buying intentions will remain strong," said TRREB CEO John DiMichele. "Because the number of homes for sale is expected to remain low, it will also be important to have substantial rental supply available."

"Unfortunately, this is not something we have at the present time. We need to see a policy focus on bringing more purpose-built rental units on line over the next number of years."

  • 1
    cut-flowers-julie-marsh-unsplash.jpg

    Julie Marsh

    February 2022 was the top of the market, and since then, prices have been dropping. However, looking at price increases from January to February, buyers have once again ended up in multiple offers bidding up prices by 106% for a link.

  • 2
    infinite-views-0id6YrCtpS4-unsplash.jpg

    <a href="https://unsplash.com/@infiniteviews?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Infinite Views</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/real-estate?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

    For March 2022, Oakville's real estate prices are slightly off the high recorded in February 2022, except for apartments. Is the market calming down?