The president of the Sarnia-Lambton Association of Realtors believes the market is starting to recover from a slow 2024, as the area saw another month of increased sales and dollar volume.
In June, 162 homes changed hands, representing a dollar volume of nearly $93 million for the month.
"Our sales activity and dollar volume were up, both over 10 per cent, which is great to see. It's a continuation of [May's] sales and dollar volume both being up. We're comparing that to June of last year, which was a slower year," said Jeremy Guerette. "So that's kind of disappointing that we are in a recovery situation here. It feels like the market is recovering which I think is positive for everyone."
Guerette said it would be even more positive if Canada and the U.S. are able to reach a trade deal in the near future, as the economic uncertainty may have kept prospective buyers and sellers "on the sidelines."
Overall, the market remains balanced with a sales-to-new-listing ratio of 46.6 per cent.
New listings went up by about 30 per cent in June as 348 homes went on the market, which boosted the number of active listings to 641.
Guerette said the types of homes being put on the market seem to cover a wide range.
"In the beginning of the year, we started to see the low to mid-range prices start to sell more," he said. "As the spring kind of kicked in and we started to move into the summer, we've noticed that the higher-end stuff has also started to move. So it feels like the trend is across all spectrums."
However, he notes new construction continues to be a struggle.
"In my mind, if there's one thing that governments of all levels -- be it municipal, provincial, and federal -- could focus on is trying to make things better for developers and builders," Guerette said. "We need them to build some new product and unless it's profitable for them to do so, they're just not going to do it."
The year-to-date average sales price is $538,284, which is a one per cent increase compared to the same time frame last year.
"That's kind of to be expected around this time of year. We're getting lots of sales in that spring/summer market," he said. "But it is a positive sign as well, that our prices are stable. They do seem like they've been stable for some time."
In June, homes spent about 21 days on the market.