[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
News Local News
Article content
The summer pause in real estate activity in the local housing market extended through September, with prices, sales and listings all down compared to the previous month.
The average sales price of a home in the area was down nearly $25,000, to $536,927 in September. The highest average monthly price this year was $602,591 in May.
Article content
“There’s been a definite pullback in the market,” said Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors president Mark Lalovich.
Advertisement 2
Article content
“I felt going into the fall we’d build some momentum similar to the spring and it just hasn’t materialized in September. It’s clearly off August’s numbers and it’s even off September 2022.
“September definitely was a disappointment.”
New listings were down 36, to 950 for the month, while sales were down 81 homes, to 353 units. Lalovich said that translated into the volume of dollars in transactions dropping 20 per cent, from $259 million in August to $195 million last month.
Lalovich noted there’s a sense of uncertainty in the market.
“Part of it is (Unifor’s) contract situation with the Big Three,” Lalovich said. “I think that did play into it, especially with all the trumpeting on the U.S. side that there would be a pretty substantial strike.
“We would be affected by that here even if there wasn’t a strike in Canada. I think that has played into people’s psyche.”
Jump Realty broker Damon Winney said interest rates also continue to feed into the climate of uncertainty.
He expects it to remain that way until the Bank of Canada gives a clearer signal on what it intends to do with interest rates.
Advertisement 3
Article content
“It feels like there are more unknown quantities in the market right now,” said Winney, a past president of the realtors’ association.
“I think there’s sentiments out there beyond just real estate. People aren’t sure which way the compass is pointing.
“Inflationary costs have consumed a lot of their discretionary spending. People are sitting tight.”
Winney notes that more evidence of a cautious market is the building inventory of supply. Though the rate of new listings is slowing, by the end of September there was a 3.7-month supply of listings.
“We haven’t seen that level of supply since 2016,” Winney said. “Once we get to four months of supply, it’s deemed a buyers’ market.”
Winney added what has also changed is the risk level for buyers in waiting. He notes during the 2021-2022 real estate boom, during the pandemic, homes were selling in three days with 10 offers.
“The risk then of waiting in 2022 could be the price rising by tens of thousands of dollars,” Winney said. “Now buyers are more comfortable and patient because that risk has been reduced.”
The most price sensitive sector of the market has been homes listed at $900,000 and above.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Sales of homes in that price range dropped from 44 in August to 19 in September.
“Interest rates definitely remain front and centre for buyers,” Lalovich said. “People are looking but not acting and not acting in a way to create a sale.”
However, both Lalovich and Winney feel the current environment is just a temporary pause. They expect the level of economic activity in the region and the growing population to kickstart the market in the coming months.
“I see 2024 has a lot of great things happening in the local economy,” Winney said.
“I’ve talked with people on the commercial side of real estate who said funding was outstanding in the sector in Q3 and Q4 is looking good.
“When investment sits behind stuff on the commercial side, and the employment coming with the battery plant, that’s an early indicator we’re in for a good 2024.”
Dwaddell@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/winstarwaddell
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
