Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS® totaled 117 units in May 2024. This was down sharply by 14.6% from May 2023.

Home sales were 13.1% below the five-year average and 19.5% below the 10-year average for the month of May.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 492 units over the first five months of the year. This was a minor decrease of 2% (10 sales) from the same period in 2023.

“After rising modestly earlier in the spring demand has tapered off as we near the summer months,” said Carrie Patrick, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of REALTORS®. “Although sellers are still out in stronger numbers than almost ever, buyers have decided once again to retreat to the sidelines despite accelerating levels of inventory and prices roughly back on par with where they stood three years ago. There’s plenty of choice and good deals to be had as our market flirts with buyer’s territory but it seems they are still holding back their purchasing decisions for the time being.”

The average price of homes sold in May 2024 was $427,636, a slight reduction of 0.4% from May 2023.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $422,937, edging down 0.2% from the first five months of 2023.

The dollar value of all home sales in May 2024 was $50 million, a sharp decrease of 14.9% from the same month in 2023.

The number of new listings was up modestly by 1.1% (three listings) from May 2023. There were 273 new residential listings in May 2024. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of May in a decade.

New listings were 14.6% above the five-year average and 19.4% above the 10-year average for the month of May.

Active residential listings numbered 474 units on the market at the end of May, an increase of 26.4% from the end of May 2023. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of May in more than five years.

Active listings were 68.6% above the five-year average and 38.7% above the 10-year average for the month of May.

Months of inventory numbered 4.1 at the end of May 2024, up from the 2.7 months recorded at the end of May 2023 and above the long-run average of 2.4 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.