Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS® totaled 323 units in February 2023, down sharply by 48.9% from February 2022.

Home sales were 31.5% below the five-year average and 27.9% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 619 units over the first two months of the year. This was a substantial decline of 43.3% from the same period in 2022.

“Although below average for this time of year and down from the all-time record for the month set during the same period last year, February MLS® home sales posted the second month-over-month gain in a row to start off the new year. While not a definitive trend it is encouraging,” said Marc Lalovich, President of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®. “There were an above-average number of newly listed properties during the period which, combined with softer demand, helped to keep overall inventory stable. There was little change in the market conditions from January, with our region remaining in balanced territory. All eyes will be on next month’s report as it is the beginning of the traditionally busy spring market and will hopefully provide some clarity of what to expect into the summer and for the rest of the year.”

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 $565,400 in February 2023, a minor decrease of 2.3% compared to February 2022.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $610,000, a small reduction of 3.8% on a year-over-year basis in February. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $358,600, falling by 2.3% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $394,400, a gain of 13.9% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in February 2023 was $516,090, a large decline of 24.5% from February 2022.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $504,673, retreating 23% from the first two months of 2022.

The dollar value of all home sales in February 2023 was $166.7 million, tumbling 61.4% from the same month in 2022.

The number of new listings fell 11.1% from February 2022. There were 668 new residential listings in February 2023.

New listings were 3% above the five-year average and 8.6% above the 10-year average for the month of February.

Active residential listings numbered 982 units on the market at the end of February, more than double the levels from a year earlier, jumping 153.7% from the end of February 2022. Active listings haven’t been this high in the month of February in more than five years.

Active listings were 41.6% above the five-year average and 10% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

Months of inventory numbered 3 at the end of February 2023, up from the 0.6 months recorded at the end of February 2022 and above the long-run average of 2.7 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.