Home sales down 47 per cent in Windsor-Essex

Real estate in Windsor-Essex has been a rollercoaster ride over the past few years and in January, the wild ride continued.

From January 2022 to January 2023, the number of homes sold dropped by nearly 47 per cent, marking the 11th straight month the region has reported a drop in sales, according to WECAR.

The average sale price was also down nearly 20 per cent to $516,117, down from $636,422 just a year prior.

“Early ‘22, that was not normal pricing,” said Dan Gemus, a Windsor-Essex Realtor. “That was the peak and it was crazy. It was getting a little out of hand.”

Gemus points to many factors which have contributed to the cooling market, including many listings, a stereotypically slow Winter and climbing interest rates.

“We've had, what, eight rate hikes now?” said Gemus. “And people, as the rates have gone up, have said wait a second. Before I buy a house, should I wait to see if these rates are going to go any higher?”

But now that interest rates seem to have peaked for now, Gemus predicts prices will hold steady or mildly increase throughout the year. But he’s not quite ready to declare this a buyer’s market.

“We're just going back to those normal times, which is not a bad thing,” he said. “It's good for buyers and quite frankly, for sellers. Prices have gone up so much in Windsor Essex over the last four or five years that unless you purchased in the last year, you're still gonna make a return on your investment.”

After a recent uptick in buyer action, Gemus expects the spring to bring out even more buyers and sellers.

Agents are now listing homes close to what they hope to sell them for and Gemus predicts you aren’t likely to see many bidding wars like you did a year ago.

The bigger challenge, Gemus said, will be managing seller expectations when they choose to list.

“They're still hoping to get you know, the spring 2022 prices, when that's not happening,” said Gemus. “They're getting discouraged. So I think it's up to us as an industry in real estate to educate our sellers on what they can expect in a market like this.”