The real estate market in Chatham-Kent is seeing fewer buyers these days despite more homes available for sale, something that was not the case over the past few years.
The Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors (CKAR) is reporting that home sales were lower last month even with a larger than normal housing supply in February.
Realtors in Chatham-Kent sold 61 homes last month, which is down by 50.8 per cent from February 2022.
According to CKAR, home sales were also 31.6 per cent below the five-year average and 28.5 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of February.
The association also said 118 homes have been sold so far this year, which is a decline of 47.8 per cent from the same period last year.
"Home sales were trending below typical levels for this time of year and continue to decline on a monthly basis," said President of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors Matt Bechard. "New listings have rebounded from their previous lows and are now running above average, pushing overall supply up to levels unseen since the end of 2016. Given the imbalance between supply and demand at the moment, it may be the case that sellers have not yet fully adjusted to buyers’ lower pricing expectations or affordability, in which case it may take another month or two before we start to see an upswing in sales activity."
The average price of homes sold in February was $426,963, a decrease of 19.7 per cent from February 2022.
Local realtors sold a total of $26 million in February, a sharp decrease of 60.5 per cent from the same month last year.
If you're a buyer there's lots of inventory to choose from. The association also said there are a total of 294 homes for sale, a 320 per cent jump from a year ago.
"Active listings haven't been this high in the month of February in more than five years," CKAR said.
CKAR also reported that active listings were 85.1 per cent above the five-year average and 11.4 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of February.
There were 144 new residential listings in February 2023, which was the largest number of new listings added in the month of February in more than five years, said the association. The number of new listings was up by 7.5 per cent (10 listings) from February 2022.
New listings were 8.4 per cent above the five-year average and 11.7 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of February, reported CKAR.