Re/Max: Realtors say home prices rose more than 10 per cent in 2015

Houses in Hamilton and Burlington sold for an average of 12 per cent more in 2015 than the average sales price of 2014, according to an annual housing report released Thursday from realtors under the Re/Max umbrella.

The average sale price through the end of October was about $436,500 in Hamilton and Burlington, the report said. 

That's 12 per cent higher than 2014.

The average price of homes sold in Hamilton this year, as estimated by Re/Max, was $360,275, up 10 per cent from 2014.

Burlington's average price was $573,100, up 6 per cent from the year before.

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Looking to next year

That 12 per cent jump is four times higher than what the Re/Max report forecasted for 2015, which was between 2 and 3 per cent growth.

Conrad Zurini, a broker with Re/Max Escarpment Realty, admitted the forecast was blown out of the water.

"Usually we've been right bang on," he said. 

But some of the things that made him uncertain near the end of 2014 — would interest rates rise? Would a stronger dollar weaken the manufacturing sector? — didn't come to pass this year.

Meanwhile, a generally bad economic story about the decline in oil prices actually helped possibly smooth the transition for a buyer who wants to buy a house in Hamilton and commute to the GTA, Zurini said. 

Despite the distance between last year's prediction and what actually happened, the Re/Max report doesn't hesitate to offer a prediction for 2016. 

Homes sold in Hamilton and Burlington will go for prices that are, on average, 4.3 per cent higher than 2015, according to the report.

Here's how that looks in context of the last five years' average sales prices: 

• 2012: $360,059
• 2013: $383,840
• 2014: $388,487
• 2015 (ESTIMATE): $436,500
• 2016 (FORECAST): $455,270