Chatham-Kent continues to show strong home sales

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 153 units in May 2019. This was up 8.5% from May 2018 and was above both the five and 10-year averages for the month.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 505 units over the first five months of the year, up 1.2% from the same period in 2018. “Only five other monthly sales figures in history stand above the 153 homes that traded hands in May 2019, so the market continues to do very well,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “At the same time, the pool of homes available for sale is still very low, and the competition among buyers for limited listings is evident based on selling prices.”

The average price of homes sold in May 2019 was $254,356, rising 18.5% from May 2018. This was a new record for the month. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $247,964, surging 24.2% from the first five months of 2018.

There were 219 new residential listings in May 2019. This was an increase of 31.9% on a year-over-year basis, albeit from a 25-year low in May 2018.

Active residential listings numbered 275 units at the end of May, up 31% from the end of May 2018 but still below normal for this time of the year.

Months of inventory numbered just 1.8 at the end of May 2019, up slightly from the 1.5 months recorded at the end of May 2018 but well below the long-run average of 5.5 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.