July was a hot month – in temperature and in home sales in Chatham-Kent.
According to the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors, 137 units changed hands in July, up seven per cent from July 2018. It also marked the third highest level of sales on record for the month, after 2016 and 2003.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 770 units over the first seven months of the year, up two per cent (15 sales) from the same period in 2018.
“Home sales were strong in July, coming in fewer than 10 transactions below the record for that month set back in 2016,” said Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors, in a media release. “The intense competition among buyers for limited listings this year has been evident in the behaviour of prices, which remain on track for a huge gain in 2019.”
The average price of homes sold in July 2019 was $255,834, up 6.9 per cent from July 2018.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $248,752, jumping 20.9 per cent from the first seven months of 2018.
There were 173 new residential listings in July 2019, down 4.4 per cent (eight listings) on a year-over-year basis. This was a 20-year low for new supply in the month of July.
Active residential listings numbered just 280 units at the end of July. While this was an increase of 21.7% from the record low at the end of July 2018, it was still way below the same time in every other year on record.
Months of inventory numbered just 2 at the end of July 2019, up slightly from the 1.8 months recorded at the end of July 2018 but well below the long-run average of 6.3 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.
