Home prices still on the rise in 2019

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 73 units in January 2019, a 55.3% surge from January 2018.

“Home sales came flying out of the gate to begin 2019, with January sales actually building even further on December’s big gain,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “It was the second-best January sales figure on record, behind the year 2007; however, unlike in December there was no accompanying jump in new listings in January. With more of that activity coming out of existing inventory, overall supply and the number of months of inventory are testing fresh all-time lows,which means it could be another big year for home prices in the region.” The average price of homes sold in January 2019 was $216,704, jumping 23.1% from January 2018.

There were 96 new residential listings in January 2019. While this was an increase of 10.3% (nine listings) on a year-over-year basis, it was still one of the lowest levels on record for the month.
Active residential listings numbered just 182 units at the end of January – a record low for this time of the year. It was down 9% from the end of January 2018.

Months of inventory numbered just 2.5 at the end of January 2019, down from the 4.3 months recorded at the end of January 2018 and 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.