Niagara Association of REALTORS®

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Niagara Association of REALTORS® (NAR) totaled 409 units in October 2023. This was a moderate decrease of 9.7% from October 2022.

Home sales were 39.6% below the five-year average and 36.9% below the 10-year average for the month of October.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 5,422 units over the first 10 months of the year. This decreased by 7.4% from the same period in 2022.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $639,900 in October 2023, a modest decline of 1.8% compared to October 2022.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $653,600, down modestly by 1.7% on a year-over-year basis in October. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $611,600, essentially unchanged, down just 0.3% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $443,700, a moderate decrease of 4.2% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in October 2023 was $681,619, a modest decline of 2.6% from October 2022.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $700,663, down sharply by 12.2% from the first 10 months of 2022.

The dollar value of all home sales in October 2023 was $278.8 million, a substantial decrease of 12.1% from the same month in 2022.

The number of new listings saw a sizable gain of 15.2% from October 2022. There were 1,296 new residential listings in October 2023. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of October in more than three decades.

New listings were 14.1% above the five-year average and 24.3% above the 10-year average for the month of October.

Active residential listings numbered 2,626 units on the market at the end of October, increasing by 18.1% from the end of October 2022. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of October in more than five years.

Active listings were 46.5% above the five-year average and 38.8% above the 10-year average for the month of October.

Months of inventory numbered 6.4 at the end of October 2023, up from the 4.9 months recorded at the end of October 2022 and above the long-run average of 3.3 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.