Number of Homes for Sale in CK dropped to lowest level in 20 years

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® numbered 166 units in July 2016, rising 16.9 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Sales numbered 875 over the first seven months of the year, up 16.7 per cent on a year-over-year basis. “July home sales tied the all-time monthly record set back in May 2010, which serves to underscore just how strong demand is right now because more often than not sales have started to fade by this point in the summer,” said Barb Phillips, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “With so many sales in July and new supply moving the other direction and hitting the lowest level for the month since the year 2000, the number of properties left for sale on the market at the end of July below 500 for the first time in over 20 years.”

The average price of homes sold in July 2016 was $155,139, edging up 1.6 per cent from July 2015. The year-to-date average sale price was $160,567, up 1.3 per cent from the same period in 2015. New listings numbered 194 units in July, falling 21.1 per cent from the same month last year. There were 491 active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System at the end of July 2016. This was down 25.6 per cent from July 2015, and marks the lowest level for active supply at this time of the year since 1993.

There was are record low three months of inventory at the end of July 2016, down from 4.6 months a year earlier and well below the long-run average for this time of the 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.