Chatham-Kent’s housing market slowed down in August, as inventory levels continued to rise.
However, “slowed down” translates to three fewer homes sold than the same month a year ago, which is the best August on record. A total of 159 units changed hands last month, tying the number of homes sold in 2007 as the second highest August on record.
Home sales are about 8.5 per cent higher than the five-year average.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled a record 1,229 units over the first eight months of the year. This was a significant increase of 40.5 per cent from the same period in 2020.
“Sales activity continued to post strong gains, but realtors are still very concerned that new home buyers are being priced out of the market,” said Laura Tourangeau, president of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors (CKAR). “While we saw an uptick in overall inventory last month, overall supply is still trailing far behind demand, and as a result, prices continue to post new records. Housing should be a right, not a luxury for the people of Chatham-Kent.”
The number of new listings saw a substantial gain of 31.6 per cent from August 2020. There were 229 new residential listings in August 2021. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of August in more than a decade.
The average price of homes sold in August 2021 was a record $429,198, up by 32.1 per cent from August 2020.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $405,621, an increase of 34.4 per cent from the first eight months of 2020.
The dollar value of all home sales in August 2021 was $68.2 million, a sizable gain of 29.7 per cent from the same month in 2020. This was also a new record for the month of August.
New listings were 26.8 per cent above the five-year average and 28.9 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of August.
