The Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors says home sales continue to rise above long-term averages, even as new listings continue to decline.
The number of homes sold through the MLS system totaled 135 units in April, a decrease of 2.2 per cent from the same month last year.
However, home sales were 10.3 per cent above the five-year average and 10.6 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of April.
On a year-to-date basis, sales totaled 356 units during the first four months of the year, a steep drop of 30 per cent from the same period in 2022.
“In a very short amount of time, home sales have turned a corner and have rebounded to above-average levels. In fact, sales activity in April notched one of the best levels for this month in history,” said Matt Bechard, association president, in a release.
“The rebound in sales has occurred despite a lack of new listings coming to the market. This has had the effect of putting a stop to the rise in the overall stock of listings on the market, tightening the balance back in favor of sellers, and causing stronger price growth. Since bottoming in December 2022, average price levels have gone up by more than $50,000.”
The average price of homes sold last month was $437,270, a drop of 12.4 per cent from April 2022.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $423,563, a decrease of 16.2 per cent from the first four months of last year.
The dollar value of all home sales in April was $59 million, down by 14.3 per cent from the same month in 2022. The number of new listings saw a decrease of 6.4 per cent from April 2022.
There were 190 new residential listings last month. New listings were 7.8 per cent above the five-year average and 4.3 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of April.
Active residential listings numbered 308 units on the market at the end of April, more than double the levels from a year earlier, shooting up 111 per cent from the end of April 2022.
Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of April in more than five years, the association added. Active listings were 61.4 per cent above the five-year average and 2.3 per cent below the 10-year average for the month.
Months of inventory numbered 2.3 at the end of last month, up from the 1.1 months recorded at the end of April 2022 and below the long-run average of 2.7 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.