Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® MLS® home sales slow from the frenzy of the past two years

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® totaled 119 units in August 2022. This was a large decline of 24.7% from August 2021.
Home sales were 15.8% below the five-year average and 11.8% below the 10-year average for the month of August.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 985 units over the first eight months of the year. This was a substantial decline of 19.7% from the same period in 2021.
“Our region’s housing market continued to moderate in August, partly due to the rapid rise in mortgage rates seen throughout the year that has eroded affordability,” said Amber Pinsonneault, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “The slowdown in sales, coupled with an increase in inventory on the market, have brought market conditions closer to balanced levels and we are starting to see a softening in prices. There are now more options to choose from for those buyers who are still looking to enter the market.”
The average price of homes sold in August 2022 was $421,638, a modest decline of 2.1% from August 2021.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $482,108, up by 18.9% from the first eight months of 2021.
The dollar value of all home sales in August 2022 was $50.2 million, a substantial decrease of 26.2% from the same month in 2021.
The number of new listings saw a moderate gain of 4.4% (10 listings) from August 2021. There were 239 new residential listings in August 2022. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of August in 15 years.
New listings were 23.3% above the five-year average and 30.7% above the 10-year average for the month of August.
Active residential listings numbered 375 units on the market at the end of August, a substantial gain of 93.3% from the end of August 2021. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of August in more than five years.
Active listings were 58.6% above the five-year average and 1.9% below the 10-year average for the month of August.
Months of inventory numbered 3.2 at the end of August 2022, up from the 1.2 months recorded at the end of August 2021 and above the long-run average of 3.1 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.