Chatham-Kent home sales post average November, well down from last year’s record for the month

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 86 units in November 2018. This was a decline of 30.1% from the record month of November in 2017. That said, the November 2018 sales figure was just three sales off the 10-year average for that month. On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 1,208 units over the first 11 months of the year. This was down 6.6% from the same period in 2017.

“Home sales posted a fairly average month of November, making for a considerable year-over-year decline from last year’s all-time record for that month,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “It is still an open question as to whether the slowdown in sales is due to a slowdown in demand or the historical shortage of product for sale in the region. The fact that the average price shot to yet another record in November would suggest lack of supply continues to play a staring role in the current market.”

The average price of homes sold in November 2018 was a record $243,905, jumping 30.8% from November 2017. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $214,082, rising 17.2% from the first 11 months of 2017. There were 109 new residential listings in November 2018. This was up 6.9% (seven listings) on a year-over-year basis but remained below all other November levels going all the way back to 1988.

Active residential listings numbered 219 units at the end of November. This was unchanged from the end of November 2017 and marked the lowest level on record for this time of the year. Months of inventory numbered just 2.5 at the end of November 2018, up from the 1.8 months recorded at the end of November 2017 but well below the long-run average of 7.3 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.