Chatham-Kent home sales post solid October despite being down from last year’s record for the month

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 110 units in October 2018. This was a decrease of 12.7% from the record October in 2017 but was still above average for the month.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 1,119 units over the first 10 months of the year. This was down 4.4% from the same period in 2017.

“Home sales posted a solid showing in October – the third-highest level ever for that month,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “The combination of strong sales and record-low supply has led to some very large year-over-year average price gains since the summer.”

The average price of homes sold in October 2018 was $230,883, jumping 24.5% from October 2017. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $211,936, rising 16.3% from the first 10 months of 2017.

There were 167 new residential listings in October 2018. This was up 5% (eight listings) on a year-over-year basis. Active residential listings numbered 247 units at the end of October. This was a decrease of 11.2% from the end of October 2017 and marked the lowest level for this month on record.

Months of inventory numbered just 2.2 at the end of October 2018, unchanged from the end of October 2017 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.