Donna Mathewson, president of the Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board, is shown in this file photo.
There are hopeful signs for the local real estate market hit hard by the impact of the pandemic, says the president of the Sarnia-Lambton Real Estate Board.
The board’s May statistics showed a drop in sales volume of about 40 per cent, compared to the previous year, but total value of May’s sales was an improvement over April’s numbers, said board president Donna Mathewson.
May’s local total sales volume was $42 million, compared to $32.2 million the previous month. April was the first full month following the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario that ended traditional open houses and had the industry scaling back to only essential transactions. In May, 2019, Sarnia-Lambton’s total sales volume was $71.8 million.
Mathewson said May’s sales total was boosted by sales in the higher end of the market. “We had a few over $700,000, one over $1 million,” she said. “Those helped pump those numbers up.”
In late May, the real estate industry returned to servicing all sales while still observing precautions aim at limiting the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Mathewson said those precautions includes screening potential buyers before they tour houses on the market. That includes ensuring they have financing in place and have already looked over information online about the property.
During home tours, agents work to limit the number of “touch points” by having sellers leave doors open and turn on all the lights, Mathewson said.
“The realtors are equipped with all the PPE (personal protection equipment) required to ensure they can do those showings safely,” she said.
The return to serving all sales was a response to demand from the market, Mathewson said.
“We’re free to help buyers and help sellers in any capacity they need now,” she said.
“We do expect that June’s numbers will rise substantially from what May was.”
Listings were down about 40 per cent in April but down only 35 per cent in May, compared to the previous year.
There were 153 homes listed for sale in May, compared to 92 in April.
“We’re seeing more listings come on in the last week or so . . . as people feel it’s safe to move forward,” Mathewson said.
The local average home sale price in May was $358,000, which was slightly higher than the same month last year.
“The reality is, for the last four or five years, we’ve been in a high-demand low-supply” market, Mathewson said.
That has continued in recently months. In particular, properties listed for $250,000 to $300,00 are still attracting multiple offers, she said.
“There are still a lot of buyers out there, in that price range.”
Because of that, home prices are likely to remain steady, she said.
“I think, for right now, our market is going to stay fairly strong in Sarnia-Lambton.”
