Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® MLS® home sales post average finish to 2022, for a year that was anything but average!

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® totaled 76 units in December 2022. This was a big decline of 42.4% from December 2021.

Home sales were 12.6% below the five-year average and 0.3% below the 10-year average for the month of December.

On an annual basis, home sales totaled 1,347 units over the course of 2022. This was a substantial decline of 26.6% from the same period in 2021.

“December 2022 posted an average level of sales activity for that time of year and the full year of 2022 posted annual totals that were in line with the average compared to recent years. However, we know that last year was anything but average and this annual figure masks the volatility by blending the highs of spring with the lows of the second half of the year into one number,” said Matt Bechard, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “The momentum heading into 2023 looks promising, with sales activity still moving up steadily and new listings coming onto the market at very supportive levels. A few more months of this and we can almost call it a return to a more normal market, but we’ll have to wait and see how many buyers step back off the sidelines and return in the spring.”

The average price of homes sold in December 2022 was $384,644, a sharp decrease of 12% from December 2021.

The more comprehensive annual average price was $459,950, up by 9.6% from all of 2021.

The dollar value of all home sales in December 2022 was $29.2 million, a substantial decline of 49.4% from the same month in 2021.

The number of new listings saw a sizable gain of 24.4% from December 2021. There were 107 new residential listings in December 2022. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of December in more than a decade.

New listings were 22.1% above the five-year average and 34.8% above the 10-year average for the month of December.

Active residential listings numbered 286 units on the market at the end of December, more than double the levels from a year earlier, rocketing up 262% from the end of December 2021. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of December in more than five years.

Active listings were 79% above the five-year average and 12.6% above the 10-year average for the month of December.

Months of inventory numbered 3.8 at the end of December 2022, up from the 0.6 months recorded at the end of December 2021 and above the long-run average of 3.7 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.