The lack of supply in Chatham-Kent's housing market has resulted in lower sales, but the increase in demand continues to fetch higher prices when homes are sold.
The Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors said 110 homes were sold in October this year, a decrease of 12.7% over the same month in 2017, but was still above average for the month.
So far this year 1,119 units have been sold, down 4.4 per cent over same period in 2017.
“Home sales posted a solid showing in October, the third-highest level ever for that month,” Steve Carroll, President of the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors said. “The combination of strong sales and record-low supply has led to some very large year-over-year average price gains since the summer.”
The average price of homes sold last month was $230,883, an increase of 24.5 per cent from October last year. The year-to-date average price is $211,936, rising 16.3 per cent over the first 10 months of 2017.
According to the group there were 167 new residential listings in October 2018, up 5 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Active residential listings were at 247 at the end of October, a decrease of 11.2 per cent last year and marked the lowest level for the month on record.
Months of inventory were at 2.2 at the end of October, the same as last year and tied a record-low for this time of year.
The months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell the all the homes on the marker at the current rate of sales.