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Existing Home Sales and Prices
Increased in the First Quarter
New Construction:
The housing market in the Halifax
Regional Municipality (HRM) reported
growth in March as existing home
sales, average prices and total
housing starts all increased.
Total starts increased from 112 in
March 2011 to 201 in March 2012.
Despite the increase, single-detached
starts declined from 74 units last
year to 59 this year. Offsetting this
decline was an increase in apartment
style rental unit construction, which
climbed from zero starts last year to
131 in March. In the semi-detached
and row segment of the market, there
were 11 starts recorded compared
to ten last year. There were no
new condominium starts in March
compared to 28 a year ago.
On a year-to-date basis, total
housing starts in the HRM declined
compared to last year. After the first
quarter of the year, there were 431
starts compared to 517 in 2011. The
decrease was largely attributed to
a decline in apartment-style, rental
unit construction. There were 227
apartment-style, rental unit starts
in the first quarter, representing a
decline of 23 per cent (or 68 units)
compared to last year.
In the single-detached segment of the
market, there were 163 starts in the
first quarter compared to 147 last
year. Despite the increase, single
starts were below the ten-year,
first quarter average of 184 starts.
In the semi-detached and row
segment, builders broke ground on
41 units in the first three months of
the year, which represents a slight
decline compared to the 47 starts
recorded in 2011. There were no
new condominium starts in the first
quarter compared to 28 last year.
With the addition of 131 apartment
units last month, the total number
of apartments under construction in
the HRM now sits at a thirty-three
year high of 2,276 units. This is over
50 per cent higher than in March of
last year and more than 25 per cent
higher than the 2011 monthly average
of 1,792.
In the new homes market, available
inventory in the HRM declined slightly
last month. There were 50 new,
single detached units that were
completed and not absorbed as of March
compared to 54 last year. The average
price of a new, single-detached home
in the HRM increased in March to
$423,720 from $362,937 in 2011.
Year-to-date, the average price of
the 183, new, single-detached homes
sold in the HRM was $427,140,
compared to 189 sales at an average
price of $375,343 last year. Of the
183 new, single-detached sales in the
first quarter, nearly 30 per cent were
priced above $450,000 (compared to
15 per cent of new singles last year).
In Halifax City, the HRM’s most
expensive submarket for new
singles, prices reported little change
compared to last year at $523,625.
Price growth of new singles was
stronger in Bedford – Hammonds
Plains, where the average price
increased from $425,614 to $510,128
in the first quarter.
MLS:
In the existing homes market,there
were 570 MLS® sales in March
compared to 551 last year, which
represents an increase of 3.4
per cent. Sales in Halifax City and
Dartmouth City, the HRM’s two
largest submarkets, both posted
gains last month. In Halifax City,
sales increased six per cent to 157,
while in Dartmouth City, 155 sales were
recorded compared to 143 last year.
Coming off a strong January and a
record February, year-to-date existing
home sales in the HRM increased
20 per cent from 1,195 to 1,439, as
each submarket reported an increase.
First quarter, existing home sales in
the HRM were roughly ten per cent
higher than the ten-year, first quarter
average of 1,301 sales, but remained
below the record high of 1,548 sales
set in 2007.
Sales increased the most in the
Sackville submarket where 139 sales
were reported compared to 87 in
2011. In Dartmouth City, sales posted
an increase of 29 per cent, while
sales in the Halifax City submarket
increased 12.5 per cent. In Bedford-
Hammonds Plains, the HRM’s most
expensive submarket, year-to-date,
existing home sales increased over 14
per cent to 166 sales.
Despite the sharp increase in sales in
the first quarter, average price growth
was more modest at 3.6 per cent.
The average price of an existing
home in the HRM was $268,294 as
of the end of the first quarter. Prices
increased in each submarket (with the
exception of Fall River – Beaverbank)
with the strongest growth reported
in the below average priced
submarkets of Halifax County East
(12.7 per cent) and Dartmouth City
(9.2 per cent). In the above average
priced submarkets of Halifax City and
Bedford – Hammonds Plains, price
growth was slower at 1.1 and 2.8
per cent, respectively.
Listings are "GOLD" in this market:
The inventory of existing homes in
the HRM declined over nine per cent
as of March to 3,155. After the first
quarter of the year, the average time
it takes to sell a home remained
constant at 99 days.
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