The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Kingston and Area Real Estate Association totaled 155 units in February 2023. This was a substantial reduction of 42.6% from February 2022.
Home sales were 34% below the five-year average and 27.6% below the 10-year average for the month of February.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 268 units over the first two months of the year. This was a sharp decrease of 41.2% from the same period in 2022.
“Sales activity and new listings have been holding steady on a monthly basis over the past several months, so there hasn’t been any major shift in market conditions,” said Stacey MacDonald, President of the Kingston and Area Real Estate Association. “New listings have rebounded to average levels while home sales have not, and although the market is in balanced territory it is tilted slightly more in favour of buyers. It may take a few more declines on the price side before we begin to see buyers wade back in to the market if it is indeed the case that many are either holding out for price reductions or are still reassessing how much they can afford.”
The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $540,900 in February 2023, a sharp decrease of 14.9% compared to February 2022.
The benchmark price for single-family homes was $552,600, down sharply by 15.9% on a year-over-year basis in February. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $519,600, a decrease of 7.1% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $413,900, a slight gain of 0.2% from year-ago levels.
The average price of homes sold in February 2023 was $603,135, down sharply by 14.9% from February 2022.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $604,038, a substantial decrease of 13.1% from the first two months of 2022.
The dollar value of all home sales in February 2023 was $93.5 million, a big decline of 51.2% from the same month in 2022.
The number of new listings was up by 18.7% from February 2022. There were 374 new residential listings in February 2023.
New listings were 0.3% above the five-year average and 13% below the 10-year average for the month of February.
Active residential listings numbered 601 units on the market at the end of February, more than double the levels from a year earlier, surging 214.7% from the end of February 2022.
Active listings were 22.7% above the five-year average and 35.4% below the 10-year average for the month of February.
Months of inventory numbered 3.9 at the end of February 2023, up from the 0.7 months recorded at the end of February 2022 and below the long-run average of 4.7 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.
Information obtained from the Kingston and Area Real Estate Association (karea.ca)
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