Local realtors enjoyed a heat wave of sales in July, as home sales in Chatham-Kent rose by more than 28 per cent compared to July of 2017.
Through the first seven months of this year, sales reached 756 units, which are down slightly, by 3.9 per cent, from the same period a year ago.
“Home sales posted a solid showing in July, in line with the five-year average and above the longer 10-year average for that month,” Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors, said in a media release.
The year-to-date average price was $205,928, up 11.8 per cent from the first seven months of 2017. Carroll said the steep increase is more indicative of how poor last July was rather than how solid this one was.
“About the big year-over-year increases in both sales activity and in particular the average price in July, they should probably be taken with a grain of salt since they are as much or more about the weak month of July we had last year,” he said.
Active residential listings numbered 232 units at the end of July. This was down 28.4 per cent from the end of July 2017 and marked the lowest level on record for this month.
Months of inventory numbered a record-low 1.9 at the end of July 2018, down from the 3.4 months recorded at the end of July 2017 and well below the long-run average of 6.2 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.
