The local real estate market is starting to cool down in terms of sales and dollar volume as the winter season approaches.
Sales were down in November by 4.2 per cent compared to the same time last year, after 115 homes changed hands last month.
The dollar volume was also down 13.1 per cent.
Sarnia-Lambton Association of Realtors President Jeremy Guerette said prices seem to be trending down very slowly but stabilizing as the year-to-date average sales price was $526,362.
Guerette said while November was a "steady" month, the overall trend is to be expected for this time of year.
"Typically in a winter season -- in a normal real estate cycle, especially as the snow starts to fly... the amount of listings will come down, the amount of sales will come down. It's just a cyclical thing that we normally see," he said. "There were some years there where we didn't see that slow down as much but now it feels like a more traditional market so I think we're going to see that."
Guerette said the sales-to-new-listing ratio was 66.9 per cent for November, reflecting a steep drop in new listings.
There were 172 new listings last month, which is down 29.2 per cent from November 2024.
"It kind of cleaned up some of that inventory that we've been holding on to," he said. "Not all of it, we're still at high levels but it definitely helped."
There are 546 active listings in Sarnia-Lambton, representing 4.7 months of inventory.
Despite the drop in new listings for the month, Guerette said overall, it remains to be a balanced market.
"If I look at the overall year-to-date sales to new listings ratio, it still falls at the low end of a balanced market -- closer to a buyer's market but still balanced," he said.
Homes are spending more time on the market and took about 36 days to sell on average in November.
