The city of Niagara Falls, situated in the regional municipality of Niagara, southeastern Ontario in Canada, is currently experiencing a decline in housing sales performance due to higher sales prices and higher mortgage rates.
Among Niagara residents, single detached houses are highly preferred for home ownership. Of the total 35,775 dwellings, 67% are single-detached houses while the remaining 33% is divided into apartments less than 5-storeys high, semi-detached houses, row houses, duplexes, and apartments that have more than five stories.
Niagara’s January 2018 housing sales performance was remarkably low in comparison to the sales in the same month of the previous year. The Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR) reported 371 property sales, a 26.53% decrease from last year. The low sales performance may be explained by the higher residential average sales price of $371,359, which is 10.17% higher when compared to the average sales price in January 2017. Moreover, the absorption rate of residential units declined as well. Units now stay 10 days longer at 46 days compared to last year’s 36-day average. For condominiums, the average days increased from 44 to 54 days.
As for the rental market, decreases in the vacancy rate that started in 2015 are expected to continue until 2018. However, the growth of this market is expected to start to slow down this year as well.