A return to March break travel for the first time in two years may have been a contributing factor to a dip in local real estate sales last month.
Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board President Rob Longo said 153 sales were recorded in March, down over 17 per cent from the same month in 2021.
"We did see a little bit of a dip in the month of March, compared to last year," said Longo. "The number of listings was down once again and the number of total sales was also down for March. So, there was a bit of a slow down in the number of sales, but dollar volume and the overall pricing remain very strong."
Dollar volume was just over $86 million for the month, down 5.5 per cent, and there were only 202 new listings, down almost two per cent from March 2021.
Longo said it's not uncommon for March real estate sales to be slower.
"Obviously over the last couple of years everything's been a little bit different, but many people I think this year -- especially with the restrictions being lifted in a lot of areas -- were able to travel more and get out for March break and different events that were happening throughout the month. So, I think people's focus shifted a little bit away from real estate for the month."
Despite the drop, Longo said Sarnia-Lambton continues to be very attractive to buyers.
"Our medium sale price for March year-to-date is about $525,000, which we think is still good when you compare to other communities in the area, such as Chatham and Strathroy being the two closest, we are still significantly less than both of those. Hundreds of thousands of dollars less than Strathroy in fact."
Homes sold for about 112 per cent of their asking price in March in about eight days.
