Residential sales activity in the area served by the Cornwall and District Real Estate Board totaled 108 units in March 2020. This was an increase of 10.2% (10 sales) from March 2019.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 266 units over the first three months of the year, up 4.3% (11 sales) from the same period in 2019.
“Home sales may have slowed a bit, but generally they managed to hold up better than in most other parts of the country in the second half of March, even as sellers are increasingly shelving plans to try and sell during the crisis,” said Helen MacLeod, President of the Cornwall and District Real Estate Board. “As such, those sales are drawing down even further on existing inventories which are not being replenished, so there is only so long that this can go on. Ultimately, we should expect things to wind down further until we get the all clear for things to start to open up again.”
The average price of homes sold in March 2020 was $261,151, rising 18.2% from March 2019.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $239,340, up 14.6% from the first three months of 2019.
There were 162 new residential listings in March 2020. This was a decrease of 16.1% on a year-over-year basis.
Active residential listings numbered only 237 units at the end of March. This was a large 45.5% decline from the end of March 2019 and a record low for this time of year.
Months of inventory numbered just 2.5 at the end of March 2020, down from the 4.5 months recorded at the end of March 2019 and also a record low for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
The dollar value of all home sales in March 2020 was $28.2 million, jumping 30.3% from the same month in 2019. This was a new record for the month of March.
The Cornwall and District Real Estate Board covers a large area, including the City of Cornwall and the Counties of Stormont, Glengarry, Prescott, and part of Dundas. It is uniquely situated next to the Quebec and U.S.A. borders, with the scenic St. Lawrence River running along the south and the Ottawa River along the north.