Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® MLS® home sales supply still trailing behind huge demand

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® totaled 159 units in August 2021. This decreased by 1.9% (three sales) from August 2020 but was tied with August 2007 as the second highest level of sales on record for the month.
Home sales were 8.5% above the five-year average and 18.9% above the 10-year average for the month of August.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled a record 1,229 units over the first eight months of the year. This was a significant increase of 40.5% from the same period in 2020.
“Sales activity continued to post strong gains, but REALTORS® are still very concerned that new home buyers are being priced out of the market ” said Laura Tourangeau, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “While we saw an uptick in overall inventory last month, overall supply is still trailing far behind demand, and as a result, prices continue to post new records. Housing should be a right, not a luxury for the people of Chatham-Kent”

The average price of homes sold in August 2021 was a record $429,198, up sharply by 32.1% from August 2020.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $405,621, a substantial increase of 34.4% from the first eight months of 2020.
The dollar value of all home sales in August 2021 was $68.2 million, a sizable gain of 29.7% from the same month in 2020. This was also a new record for the month of August.
The number of new listings saw a substantial gain of 31.6% from August 2020. There were 229 new residential listings in August 2021. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of August in more than a decade.
New listings were 26.8% above the five-year average and 28.9% above the 10-year average for the month of August.
Active residential listings numbered 187 units on the market at the end of August, an advance of 45% from the end of August 2020.
Active listings were 17.8% below the five-year average and 54.8% below the 10-year average for the month of August.

Months of inventory numbered 1.2 at the end of August 2021, up from the 0.8 months recorded at the end of August 2020 and below 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.