New listings in Chatham-Kent rebound but still below average

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 76 units in February 2018, down 29.6% from the all-time February record one year ago. February 2018 sales stood broadly in line with the 10-year average for that month. On a year-to-date basis home sales totalled 126 units over the first two months of the year. This was a decrease of 27.2% from the same period in 2017.

“The volatility of the market over the last year is making historical comparisons tricky at the moment, but the important takeaway on the February data is that sales were up from a quiet month of January,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “The improvement in sales coincided with a rebound in new listings, suggesting the January slowdown could have been as much a supply story as a demand story.” The average price of homes sold in February 2018 was $179,314, virtually unchanged from February 2017. The year-to-date average price rose 2.7% from January and February 2017 to reach $180,504.

New listings numbered 111 units in February 2018, down 4.3% from the same month in 2017. This was the lowest level for the month in three decades. There were just 210 active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System at the end of February 2018, down 13.2% from a year earlier and a record low for this time of year.  There were just 2.8 months of inventory at the end of February 2018, slightly up from the 2.2 months of inventory recorded in February 2017 but still well below the