Home sales stagnant as buyers stay patient, Huron Perth Association of Realtors says

The local real estate market stagnated last month as buyers wait for the right time to pounce.

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“While buyers appear to remain cautious, perhaps running out the clock until the first interest rate cut appears on the horizon, sellers have been less patient and are rare to go this spring,” Huron Perth Association of Realtors president Teresa Ondrejicka said. “Our market is well supplied but not oversupplied at the moment, so once buyers decide to get off the sidelines they will find that there is plenty of choice waiting for them.”

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The 139 homes sold in March were two more than a year earlier and more than 15 per cent below five- and 10-year averages for the month. For the year, sales are up 15.6 per cent from the first three months of 2023.

The benchmark price – the value of a “typical” home in a community, based on the most popular combination of features – for single-family homes last month was $558,100, a slight gain from last March. By comparison, the benchmark apartment price was $443,200, a minor decrease from 2023.

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Sellers were paid an average of $579,971 last month, almost identical to the same period in 2023. Buyers have paid an average of $608,985 this year, a four per hundred jump from the first three months of 2023.

New listings last month increased 22 per cent from March 2023 as 266 homes hit the market. There were 542 homes on the market to start April, a substantial increase of 32.5 per cent from a year ago and the most for that period in more than five years.

Months of inventory numbered 3.9 at the end of March 2024, up from the three months recorded at the end of March 2023 and above the long-run average of three 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.

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