Chatham-Kent’s roller coaster ride of a housing market continues to tick upward, a trend that one realtor believes will continue into the spring.
In February, home sales were up more than 36 per cent from the same month a year ago. That follows January, where sales were also up compared to January of 2023.
Carrie Patrick, president of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors (CKAR), thinks the market is a sign people are sick of waiting on a dip in interest rates.
“From where I sit, it’s an indication people are still in the market to buy homes,” she said. “I feel it is going to be a good market in the spring, but time will tell. It could be a tell-tale (sign) that people are still anxious to buy. Also, maybe they are tired of waiting for the interest rates to come down.”
So far through the first two months of 2024, home sales were up 22 per cent for the same period a year ago.
“Home sales and new listings are both leading the recovery in our local market, with sales activity marking a particularly strong comeback from last year’s 10-year low,” Patrick said.
Despite the uptick in February, CKAR figures show February’s total of 83 units changing hands was still about 10 per cent below the five-year average for the month of February.
The back-to-back months of increased sales followed three months of lower sales.
The average price of homes sold in February 2024 was $409,027, down a little over four per cent from February 2023.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $404,978, a modest decline of 2.4 per cent from the first two months of 2023.
However, the dollar value of all home sales in February 2024 fell just shy of $24 million, up by 30.3 per cent from February of 2023.
New listing also jumped, by more than 18 per cent, compared to February 2023. There were 169 new residential listings in February 2024. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of February in more than a decade.
New listings were 16 per cent above the five-year average and nearly 30 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of February.
“As a result of demand and new supply rising in tandem, overall inventories haven’t really shifted much in the past few months,” Patrick said.
Active residential listings numbered 316 units on the market at the end of February, up about six per cent from the end of February 2023. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of February in more than five years.
