The president of the Sarnia-Lambton Association of Realtors says they will continue to monitor possible interest rate changes as June saw a slight drop in home sales and prices.
A monthly report documented the sale of 147 homes, which is down by 20.1 per cent compared to June 2023. On a year-to-date basis, sales activity dropped by 4.3 per cent.
"I don't know if people are kind of waiting to see what happens with the interest rates here in July or if we're just starting the summer months early. A little bit of a slowdown is common in the summer months," said President Jeremy Guerette. "Usually in the late summer months, things do start to slow down a bit. June would typically be early for that, we usually expect to see sales relatively high in June but I guess it's possible that we started [that cycle] a little bit early."
The median price of homes sold year-to-date was $480,000, down by 1.2 per cent.
"That's a pretty small move, almost insignificant to be honest when it comes to an average sale price from month to month," Guerette said. "If it moves one per cent that's not necessarily a trend of any kind."
The number of new listings was also down in June at 266, a drop of 11.6 per cent. However, the number of active listings saw a slight increase at 574, indicating just under four months' worth of inventory.
The sales to new listings ratio of 55 per cent continues to show a balanced market.
Homes spent about 22 days on the market in June.
Overall, Guerette described the month as "relatively uneventful."
"That might be a good thing after a couple of years of volatility so we'll keep an eye on the interest rates in July and see how things go this next month," he said.
Realtor associations in other municipalities such as Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex also noted slight declines in home sales in June.