Chatham-Kent home sales surge to record January despite record low supply

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 92 units in January 2020. This was a 27.8% surge from January 2019 and marked a new sales record for the month of January.
“We know demand is very strong, and home sales began 2020 with a massive new January record as a result,” said Michael Gibbons, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “That may be possible in a quiet month like January, but there will have to be a considerable jump in new listings in order to pull off the same feat in the spring, otherwise that excess demand will continue to spill over even more onto the price side.”
The average price of homes sold in January 2020 was $246,143, jumping 12.6% from January 2019. There were 105 new residential listings in January 2020. While this was an increase of 11.7% (11 listings) on a year-over-year basis it remains historically low.
Overall supply is currently trending at never before seen lows. Active residential listings numbered 143 units at the end of January. This was down 21% from the end of January 2019. Months of inventory numbered 1.6 at the end of January 2020, down from the 2.5 months recorded at the end of January 2019 and also a record low 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.