The cold start to 2026 home sales in Chatham-Kent extended into February.
Following a dip in the number of residential properties sold in January by 15 per cent compared to January 2025, February deepened the chill, as sales slid more than 24 per cent last month.
Compared to February 2025 sales, it was a slow month indeed.
According to the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors (CKAR), home sales were 38.6 per cent below the five-year average and 41.9 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of February.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 124 units over the first two months of the year. This was a significant decrease of 19 per cent from the same period in 2025.
Carrie Patrick, CKAR president, said the dip caught local agents off guard.
“February saw a much quieter month for sales activity than anticipated, possibly due to inclement winter weather that may have kept many buyers sidelined,” she said in a media release. “The drop-off was too sharp and rapid to have been part of a trend, so we are looking at this as a one-off decline, which should hopefully turn into a rebound in March.”
The number of homes sold last month was not the only drop in terms of residential real estate. The average price of homes sold in February 2026 was $371,338, down by more than 11 per cent from February 2025.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $418,146, a decrease of six per cent from the first two months of 2025.
However, the number of new listings was up by 11.3 per cent from February 2025. There were 158 new residential listings in February 2026.
New listings were 2.6 per cent above the five-year average and 12.9 per cent above the 10-year average for the month of February.
Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of February in a decade and are 38 per cent above the five-year average and more than 70 per cent above the 10-year average.
