Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS® totaled 539 units in July 2024. This was an increase of 4.3% from July 2023.

Home sales were 11% below the five-year average and 18.4% below the 10-year average for the month of July.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 3,297 units over the first seven months of the year. This was a small reduction of 1.3% from the same period in 2023.

“MLS® home sales increased marginally year-over-year in July. On the surface, there appeared to be a large increase in the number of newly listed properties when compared to July 2023. However, if you look closely at the underlying data, you will see previously listed properties that have been taken off the market and relisted,” said Maggie Chen, President of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®. “This is also reflected in the number of active listings available at the end of July, which were hovering not far above the number of available homes at the end of June. Given that the number of newly listed properties outpaced the number of sales by nearly a 3:1 margin in July, one would expect there to be a significant uptick in active listings. It is reasonable to conclude that demand for MLS® listed properties in our region has waned in part due to the ongoing affordability issues and due to further anticipated rate cuts by the Bank of Canada.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $582,000 in July 2024, down modestly by 2.2% compared to July 2023.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $630,800, a minor decrease of 2.5% on a year-over-year basis in July. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $445,100, a moderate gain of 6.4% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $393,700, edging down 0.9% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in July 2024 was $577,888, increasing by 6.3% from July 2023.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $562,277, a modest gain of 1.1% from the first seven months of 2023.

The dollar value of all home sales in July 2024 was $311.5 million, up by 10.8% from the same month in 2023.

The number of new listings rose 22.9% from July 2023. There were 1,404 new residential listings in July 2024.

New listings were 14% above the five-year average and 25.6% above the 10-year average for the month of July.

Active residential listings numbered 1,891 units on the market at the end of July, a sizable gain of 18.8% from the end of July 2023. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of July in more than five years.

Active listings were 34% above the five-year average and 26% above the 10-year average for the month of July.

Months of inventory numbered 3.5 at the end of July 2024, up from the 3.1 months recorded at the end of July 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.