Hamilton Sellers: The City Average Fell 4%. Your Area Probably Didn't.

Written by Daniel Zareh, REALTOR® — licensed since 2006, serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Binbrook and Grimsby.
Last reviewed September 28, 2026. All figures are August 2026 sold prices from my own InfoSparks / ITSO pull for the Hamilton region. The September 2026 numbers are out now — the link is at the top of Keep reading.

Hamilton's average sale price came in around $746,000 in August, down 4.1% from last August. That's the number you're going to hear.

It's also not your number. Nobody sells a city average, and this one is doing something specific that has more to do with what sold than with what anything's worth.

So here's the version I'd want if I owned a house here.

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Why the 4.1% isn't what it looks like

Detached homes were 75% of everything that sold in Hamilton last month. The detached median was $741,000, down 2.5%, and detached sellers got 97% of their asking price.

Down 2.5% on the thing that makes up three quarters of the market. That's not a falling market. That's a flat one.

The scary numbers came from townhouses and condos, where averages were off 14% and 20%. But that's 63 townhouse sales and 28 condo sales for the entire region in a month. A handful of cheaper units close and the average swings 20% on its own. Townhouses actually sold at 98% of list in August, closer to asking than any other type.

That's composition, not value. If you own a detached home, the 4.1% headline is describing a change in what got sold, not a change in what you own.

What your area's detached median actually was

This is the part worth screenshotting. August 2026, median detached sold price, by area, with the number of sales behind each one.

• Waterdown — $1,168,250 (10 sales)
• Ancaster — $1,155,000 (28 sales)
• Flamborough — $1,029,250 (12 sales)
• Dundas — $938,750 (8 sales*)
• Stoney Creek — $870,000 (29 sales)
• Glanbrook, which includes Binbrook — $825,000 (21 sales)
• Hamilton West — $751,000 (24 sales)
• Hamilton Mountain — $690,000 (80 sales)
• Hamilton East — $535,000 (26 sales)
• Hamilton Centre — $488,000 (38 sales)

An asterisk means fewer than 10 homes sold there that month, so read it as a rough guide to price rather than a trend. Dundas is the only one here carrying one.

One note on Glanbrook, because I've been asked about it. Glanbrook is the whole area — Binbrook, Mount Hope, the airport lands. Binbrook on its own, MLS area 532, ran a median of $836,144 across 12 detached sales in August, a bit above the Glanbrook figure. Both numbers are right, they're just drawn at different boundaries. If Binbrook specifically is your market, I went through that month in detail in the Binbrook guide.

Look at the spread. Ancaster's median and Hamilton Centre's median are $667,000 apart, in the same city, in the same month. Waterdown is more than double Hamilton East.

Ancaster and Hamilton Mountain are the two I'd point at. Ancaster's $1,155,000 sits on 28 sales, and the Mountain's $690,000 sits on 80 — the deepest sample in the region. Those are solid numbers, not small-sample noise. If you own on the Mountain, 80 comparable sales in one month is about as clear a read as this market gives you.

If Ancaster is your market specifically, I've gone deeper on it since — why that $1,155,000 median covers two different markets, and which one your house sits in.

Townhouse medians split the same way. Ancaster $735,000 on 6 sales, Glanbrook $660,000 on 11, Hamilton Mountain $548,000 on 15, Stoney Creek $546,500 on 12, Hamilton East $490,000 on 11.

One thing worth adding since this first went up. Hamilton East's $535,000 is the lowest detached median in the region, and the east end is also where a lot of the households hit by Stelco's October 9 idling of its Hamilton finishing lines actually live. If that's your street, I've written separately about what that announcement does and doesn't do to local values — short version, it changes the maths for those specific families and it doesn't move a city-wide price.

What changed since July, and what didn't

In July the story was that listings were leaving four times faster than buyers. New listings were down 19.6% while sales were only down 4.7%. Thin competition, roughly the same pool of buyers.

August is a different shape. New listings were 790, down 20.5%. Sales were 367, down 20.0%.

Both fell by about the same amount. So the ratio barely moved. Fewer buyers this month, but also fewer sellers to compete with.

I want to be careful here, because it'd be easy to sell you the wrong version of this. Your competition didn't get thinner in August the way it did in July. It just didn't get worse. That's still a reasonable position to list into — it's not the widening advantage the July numbers described.

Supply overall sat at 5.2 months, up from 4.7 a year ago. Detached is tighter at 4.1 months, and that actually improved from 4.3 last August. Townhouses 4.4 months, down from 4.6. Under about four months favours sellers, over about six favours buyers, so detached is sitting just on the good side of balanced.

Days on market went to 44, up from 37. There were 1,911 homes sitting at the end of the month.

97% of list — and what that's measured against

Detached held 97% of asking in August. Townhouses 98%.

Here's the catch most sellers miss. That's measured against the last asking price, not the first one. A house that listed at $800,000, sat, dropped to $750,000 and sold at $730,000 still shows up in that 97% figure.

So the number doesn't tell you sellers are getting what they asked for. It tells you homes sell close to whatever price they're at when a buyer finally engages. Price it right on day one and you land there in three weeks. Price it high and you spend a month getting to the same place with less leverage and a stale listing.

At 44 days on market, you've got room for one pricing mistake, not two.

If you own a condo, this is a different conversation

Condos are the one genuinely soft spot. 8.2 months of supply, 76 days to sell, and a median of $346,000 on 28 regional sales.

That's real, not a composition story. If you're selling a condo, that's what you're selling into. Anchoring to what the unit down the hall got in 2023 is the fastest way to become one of the listings dragging that 76-day average up. I went through why the condo segment reads this way in my piece on the supply picture. Short version: resale condos are competing with almost nothing new getting started.

Condo sellers have the hardest call in this market. I wouldn't list one without going through the building's own sales history first.

What I'd do if I were listing this fall

Price to your area, not the city. If you're in Ancaster, your comparable set is 28 Ancaster sales, not a regional average that includes Hamilton Centre. Same for Binbrook inside Glanbrook, and same for Stoney Creek.

Price to the last 60 days. Anything from last autumn is describing a market that's since moved. Your number comes from what closed near you since June.

Your first three weeks are your best three weeks. Buyers who've been looking for months see every new listing the day it posts. Come in high and you burn that audience, and then you're chasing the market down.

Know which market you're actually in. Detached at 4.1 months and condo at 8.2 months need completely different pricing strategies. So do the Mountain and Waterdown.

Work out your net, not just your price. Commission and the HST on top of it, legal fees, your mortgage discharge and any prepayment penalty all come off the sale price before you see a dollar. I've put the whole list with the math in what it actually costs to sell a house in Ontario. The mortgage penalty is the one to check before you list.

Think hard about spring. Plenty of owners are waiting for it. That's exactly the problem — spring is when everyone who pulled a listing this year comes back, and you compete with all of them. Sometimes waiting is still right. It's worth working through rather than assuming.

If you're selling and buying in the same move, the other half of that decision is in my read on whether now's a good time to buy here. And if you own a house on a main road, the mid-rise zoning change affects what your lot is worth to a builder.

Common Questions

Did Hamilton house prices drop in August 2026?
The average sale price was about $746,000, down 4.1% year over year. But the detached median was $741,000, down only 2.5%, and detached was 75% of all sales. Most of the headline drop is a shift in what sold, not a drop in what homes are worth.

What's the average house price in Ancaster right now?
The August 2026 median detached sold price in Ancaster was $1,155,000, across 28 sales. That's the highest area median in the Hamilton region apart from Waterdown at $1,168,250.

What are houses selling for in Binbrook?
Binbrook on its own, MLS area 532, had a median detached sold price of $836,144 across 12 sales in August 2026. The wider Glanbrook area, which includes Binbrook, came in at $825,000 across 21 sales. Townhouses in Glanbrook ran a median of $660,000 on 11 sales.

What about Stoney Creek?
$870,000 median detached in August 2026, on 29 sales. That's the most active detached area in the region after Hamilton Mountain.

Is it a good time to sell a house in Hamilton?
For detached, it's a reasonable window. Supply is 4.1 months, tighter than last August, and sellers are getting 97% of list. Condos are harder, with 8.2 months of supply and 76 days to sell. What you own matters more than the month.

How long does it take to sell a home in Hamilton?
August averaged 44 days, up from 37 a year ago. Detached moved fastest at 40 days, townhouses 49, condos 76.

What will it cost me to sell?
Budget 5% to 6% of your sale price for the predictable costs — commission, the 13% HST on it, legal fees and your mortgage discharge. Then find out your mortgage prepayment penalty separately, because that one varies enormously. Here's every line of it with the math.

Should I wait until spring to list?
Spring usually brings more buyers. It also brings back every owner who pulled a listing this year, so you'd be competing with more sellers for them. Whether that trade works depends on your property and your timeline, and it's worth running properly.

What your own place actually did

Everything above is an area median. Your street is narrower than that.

Send me your address and I'll come back with three things. Every comparable sale within about a kilometre since June, sold prices not asking prices. A realistic range for your place. And the two or three items I'd fix before photos, with what I'd leave alone.

If the honest read is that your place isn't ready and three weeks of work would change the number, that's what you'll hear. And if the read is that you should wait until spring, I'll tell you that too, even though it's not the answer that gets me a listing.

Call or text 416-276-0052   Email: daniel@zarehhomes.com

Or send me your address below and I'll pull the comparables.

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Keep reading

• The September 2026 numbers — Hamilton, Grimsby and Stoney Creek
• Selling in Ancaster — why the $1,155,000 median covers two different markets
• What Stelco's October 9 idling does to local housing, and what it doesn't
• What it actually costs to sell a house in Ontario
• Why waiting for more Hamilton supply is a weak plan
• What the mid-rise zoning change does to main-road property values
• What your money actually buys in Stoney Creek
• Buying a house in Binbrook — prices, schools and the honest read
• Is now a good time to buy in Hamilton?

Daniel Zareh is a licensed REALTOR® with over 20 years of experience serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Binbrook, Grimsby, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga. Figures are InfoSparks / ITSO sold data for the Hamilton region, August 2026 against August 2025, and change monthly.