The Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors (CKAR) is reporting the real estate market is slowly rebounding across the municipality.
On Monday, CKAR said home sales continue the slow and steady recovery to start 2024.
The number of homes sold in January 2024 across Chatham-Kent totaled 61, an increase of seven per cent, or four sales, from January 2023, according to CKAR. The realtors association also noted home sales were 27.2 per cent below the five-year average and 14.8 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of January.
"Sales activity has been on a gradual rise over the past four months as buyers seem to be cautiously leaving the sidelines and returning to the market," said new CKAR President Carrie Patrick. "Whether it’s because interest rates seem to have definitively plateaued for the time being and future rate movements are biased to the downside, or maybe because some buyers can no longer keep waiting and need a new place to call home, our market seems to be on a steady path to recovering."
The average price of homes sold in Chatham-Kent last month was $399,470, edging down 0.7 per cent from January 2023.
CKAR also reported the total dollar value of homes sold by local realtors last month equaled $24.4 million, up by 6.3 per cent from the same month in 2023.
The number of new listings last month went up 4.6 per cent or seven listings from January 2023, according to CKAR, with 160 new residential listings in January 2024.
"This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of January in more than five years, " said Patrick.
New listings were 30.1 per cent above the five-year average and 30.7 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of January, according to the realtors association.
There were a total of 288 homes for sale across Chatham-Kent at the end of January, a slight gain of 0.3 per cent or one listing from the end of January 2023.
"Active listings haven't been this high in the month of January in more than five years," Patrick noted.