Sarnia Lambton Real Estate Board office of Exmouth Street. (BlackburnNews photo)Sarnia Lambton Real Estate Board office of Exmouth Street. (BlackburnNews photo)
Sarnia

Over 3,000 active buyers in Sarnia-Lambton as house prices soar

As thousands wait to buy a house in Sarnia-Lambton, the median sales price for a single family home climbed to over a half a million dollars in February.

Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board President Rob Longo said that's about $110,000 more than it was during the same month in 2021.

"Our median sales price has jumped quite significantly over last February, and over the beginning of this year and end of last year, up almost 15 per cent," said Longo. "The median price for February was $550,000, which was definitely a record for us here locally."

Longo said the increase in demand continues while the inventory shrinks.

"One of the key indicators that we look at is the list price to sales price ratio, which typically over the last 12 to 24 months has hovered around the 107 to 109 per cent mark. That jumped to 117 per cent in February."

Longo said local realtors were polled last month and the results shed a new light on how competitive the market is.

"Locally, we have 310 realtors and right now they're working with over 3,000 active buyers, and right now we have about 68 active listings on the market. So, you have 310 realtors and over 3,000 buyers all vying for a very small number of active listings. "

While he's hopeful more homes are listed this spring, Longo said the board is expecting the shortage will continue throughout the year.

"Anything we can do to stimulate housing in Sarnia-Lambton is very positive news for us. Obviously we are seeing a massive shortage. The news out of Lambton College is good, it's very positive, we're looking forward to that hopeful development in the future. It will take a few years to get going, but it's very positive news for the community, I think, and for the college."

Lambton College announced late last month it was working to develop a new residence concept to accommodate more students.

Longo said the board is continuing its campaign to promote changes to Sarnia's proposed official plan.

February's dollar volume, of nearly $72 million, represented an almost 11 per cent decrease compared to the same month last year.

There were 133 new listings, compared to 153 in February 2021.

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