Chatham-Kent home sales post September record

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 133 units in September 2016, rising 19.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Sales numbered 1,152 over the first eight months of the year, up 15.3 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

“September’s sales record along with July’s and a few other near-record performances over the last five months have put 2016 on track to be the best year ever for the local housing market,” said Barb Phillips, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “With new supply unable to keep up with that level of demand, the overall stock of homes for sale on the market has been drawn down to levels not seen since the mid-nineties.” The average price of homes sold in September 2016 was $162,666, down one per cent from September 2015. The less volatile year-to-date average sale price was $161,708, up 1.7 per cent from the same period in 2015.

New listings numbered 190 units in September, up 1.1 per cent from the same month last year.

There were 419 active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System at the end of September 2016. This was down 31.4 per cent from September 2015, and marks the lowest level for active supply at this time of the year in more than two decades. There was a near record low 3.2 months of inventory at the end of September 2016, down from 5.5 months a year earlier and well below the long-run average for this