Real estate listings, and prices, climb in July in the Sarnia area

The number of active residential real estate listings in the Sarnia area grew in July.

There were 393 active listings in July, compared to 371 the previous month, according to the Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board’s latest monthly report.

“We were very pleased to see the number of listings has been trending upward for the last year,” said board president Rob Longo.

“Typically in those situations if you see an increase in supply, or inventory, you’re going to see the opposite effect on pricing,” he said. “But we’re very lucky here.”

The median home sale price in Sarnia was $493,000 in July, the first time it climbed above the 2022 median selling price of $490,000, Longo said.

“It just shows the strength of the market,” Longo said. “Even as the number of listings continues to increase, our sale price continues to increase as well.”

The Sarnia market saw “a spike” in home prices about 18 months ago during a sellers’ market where demand for houses was outstripping the supply.

“And then we saw a bit of a trough as things dropped off and now we’re kind of trying to find that leveling-out point,” Longo said.

“We keep saying Sarnia-Lambton has great value to offer, whereas a lot of other municipalities saw a big spike and then a big drop and they haven’t been able to recover,” he said.

“We’ve been able to recover prices very quickly because I think the fundament values ​​here are very strong.”

Homes of “all shapes and sizes” have been coming on the market in the Sarnia area, Longo said.

“This month, I think, was pretty diverse in all price ranges and everything moving, up to multi-million-dollar homes.”

Homes were on the market in the area for an average of 18 days, which was a “couple more days” than the previous month, he said.

“We’re still under three weeks, which is good,” Longo said. “It’s still obviously busy” but allows buyers time to look at what’s available, he said.

Local homes sold in July typically sold for 98 per cent of asking prices, the board said.

Longo said more newly built homes are beginning to come to the market in Sarnia, Corunna and Plympton-Wyoming.

“It creates more opportunity for people – more inventory,” he said.

One issue is that new homes are typically at the upper end of the price range, “and that market has taken the brunt of the slow-down” from higher interest rates over the last year, Longo said.

“It does make it a little bit challenging but we are starting to see things pick up in that sector.”

There were 122 home sales locally in July with a total dollar volume of $70.6 million.

The dollar value, year-to-date to the end of July, was $499.2 million. That’s down 6.5 per cent compared to the same point in 2022, the board said.

Results so far in 2023 have been on track with the “slow and steady growth” board was anticipating when the year began, Longo said.

“I’m very pleased to see that median price up above $490,000,” he said.

“We’re expecting to end the year right around the $500,000 median price mark.”