Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS ® MLS ® home sales move lower despite upswing in new supply in February

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® totaled 61 units in February 2023. This was down sharply by 50.8% from February 2022. Home sales were 31.6% below the five-year average and 28.5% below the 10-year average for the month of February. On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 118 units over the first two months of the year. This was a substantial decline of 47.8% from the same period in 2022. “Home sales were trending below typical levels for this time of year and continue to decline on a monthly basis,” said Matt Bechard, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “New listings have rebounded from their previous lows and are now running above average, pushing overall supply up to levels unseen since the end of 2016. Given the imbalance between supply and demand at the moment it may be the case that sellers have not yet fully adjusted to buyers’ lower pricing expectations or affordability, in which case it may take another month or two before we start to see an upswing in sales activity.” The average price of homes sold in February 2023 was $426,963, a large decline of 19.7% from February 2022. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $414,980, a substantial decline of 16.7% from the first two months of 2022. The dollar value of all home sales in February 2023 was $26 million, a sharp decrease of 60.5% from the same month in 2022. The number of new listings was up by 7.5% (10 listings) from February 2022. There were 144 new residential listings in February 2023. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of February in more than five years. New listings were 8.4% above the five-year average and 11.7% above the 10-year average for the month of February. Active residential listings numbered 294 units on the market at the end of February, more than double the levels from a year earlier, jumping 320% from the end of February 2022. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of February in more than five years. Active listings were 85.1% above the five-year average and 11.4% above the 10-year average for the month of February. Months of inventory numbered 4.8 at the end of February 2023, up from the 0.6 months recorded at the end of February 2022 and above the long-run average of 3.4 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.