Windsor and area home sales post solid August as much needed new supply hits the market

Windsor and area home sales post solid August as much needed new supply hits the market

Residential sales activity recorded through the MLS® System of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS® numbered 667 units in August 2019. While this edged down 3.9% from August 2018, the bigger picture is that the last five August sales figures are close to tied, and the highest on record.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 4,870 units over the first eight months of the year, up 4.3% from the same period in 2018.

“Just like in July, August homes sales were running more or less even with the same month in the last four years, and well above every year before that,” said Tina Roy, President of the Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®. “Buyers in August did benefit from an increase in new listings. That said, the trend of higher new listings will have to continue well into next year to slow the pace of price growth, because the region is still a very strong sellers’ market.”

The average price of homes sold in August 2019 was $333,131, rising 10.4% from August 2018.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $329,631, jumping 12.4% from the first eight months of 2018.

There were 1,001 new residential listings in August 2019. This was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis and the largest number of new listings added to the market in the month of August in more than a decade.

Still, overall supply is running close to record lows. Active residential listings numbered just 1,272 units at the end of August, an increase of 11.2% from the end of August 2018 but below every other year in history and well below average.

Months of inventory numbered just 1.9 at the end of August 2019, up a bit from the 1.6 months recorded at the end of August 2018 but well below the long-run average of 5.8 months for this time of year. 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.

The dollar value of all home sales in August 2019 was $222.2 million, up 6.1% from the same month in 2018. This was a new record for the month of August.

Sales of all property types numbered 701 units in August 2019, down 3.7% from August 2018. The total value of all properties sold was $233.6 million, climbing 6.4% from August 2018.