The average home sale prices increased almost 30 per cent in Chatham-Kent last month, according to the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors.
The average price of homes sold in March 2017 was a record $195,589, up 29.3 per cent from March 2016. The year-to-date average price was $183,602, rising 20.3 per cent from the first three months of the year.
Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors numbered 114 units in March 2017, unchanged on a year-over-year basis.
On year-to-date basis home sales totalled 287 units over the first three months of the year, rising 11.7 per cent from the same period in 2016. This was a record first quarter.
“While home sales are currently on track for a record year in 2017, March was not as strong as February, and part of that slowdown may be explained by the fact that we’re looking at a record-low number of homes for sale heading into the spring market,” said Kristi Willder, president of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors.
“The result of increased competition among buyers has been a big jump in the average sale price compared to one year ago.”
New listings numbered 158 units in March, down 10.7 per cent from the same month in 2016. This was the lowest March in nearly three decades.
There were 256 active residential listings on the Association’s MLS System at the end of March 2017. This was down 49.4 per cent from March 2016, and marks the lowest level on record for active supply at this time of the year.
There were just 2.2 months of inventory at the end of March 2017, half the 4.4 months reported a year earlier and an all-time record low.
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.
