Sarnia-area homes sold more quickly in June

Homes in the Sarnia area spent fewer days on the market before selling last month, says the Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board.

Residential properties were up for sale an average of 15 days in June, said board president Rob Longo.

That’s down from an average of 18 days the previous month, according to the board’s latest monthly residential market activity report.

At the same time, the year-to-date median price paid for homes in June was $490,000 – up from $485,000 in May.

“It has been moving a little bit but overall fairly flat,” Longo said.

“We did see huge jumps and fluctuations in the previous few years, but this year has been more about leveling out and consistency,” he said.

Home prices climbed during the pandemic, until interest rates began rising as the Bank of Canada tried to rein in inflation.

But, before the slowdown, price increases in the Sarnia area didn’t match the “extremes we saw with some of the GTA markets,” Longo said.

It was the same “on the reverse side” when real estate slowed down “the last year or so,” he said. “We haven’t seen the big declines.”

June’s median price was “just shy of that $500,000 number, which is where we expected it to land,” Longo said.

“We saw a slowing of the market, overall, all through the second half of 2022,” he said.

And then activity began to pick up in the early half of 2023, with the average number of days homes are up for sale “slowing inching down,” Longo said.

The change hasn’t been dramatic from month-to-month, “which is nice and healthy and manageable, rather than the explosive growth we saw before,” he said.

While 15 days on the market is “still very quick, it certainly is slower than what we saw in the previous couple of year,” Longo said.

Looking back a decade, the number of days homes typically were on the market was about double what’s happening now in the Sarnia area, he said.

“The lower price ranges are moving a little bit quicker and the higher prices are taking a little bit more time, but still we think that 15 to 30-day window is very reasonable and healthy.”

When the average number of days moves lower than that range, “things things start to get competitive,” Longo said.

Homes in June sold on average for 99 per cent of their asking price.

“That’s been fairly consistent as well, the last couple of months,” Longo said.

Longo said that marks a shift, generally, in the mindset of home buyers and sellers.

“Traditionally in the real estate market 20 years ago, there was a lot of room left for negotiation,” Longo said.

Consumers today are less likely to negotiate and are “expecting to pay fairly close to the price,” he said.

Longo said that’s why it’s important to have a realtor advising setting “appropriate and realistic” prices for homes, Longo said.

“If you’re overpriced, people are overlooking your home rather bringing in a lower offer,” he said.

“They just look at the price and say, ‘that’s too much,’ and they keep moving.”

While the Sarnia-area market is seeing more homes being listed for sale now than during the seller’s market before interest rates began rising, “we still are below the seven to 10-year average,” Longo said.

There remains “a significant shortfall” in the supply of homes, he said.

“We’re just not keeping up.”

By the end of June, 805 homes had sold in Sarnia-Lambton since the start of the year with a total dollar volume of $429.2 million – down about eight per cent from the same point in 2022, according to the board.

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