As we dive into what the real estate market looked like around these parts to start the year, it must be pointed out that the January stats for our Local Board can be quite deceiving when you just look at the overall averages (and these “averages” are usually what is presented in the news and online).   A prime example:  at first glimpse the average sold price for the entire Board seems to have dropped 2% compared to last January, when in fact this stat was pulled down by only two areas – Lennox/Addington and The Islands.

The City of Kingston actually saw an increase of 2% in average sold price and an increase of 6% in median sold price (and if you’ve read our newsletter before, you know we feel the truth lies somewhere in the middle).
With some green grass showing for a period of time during the first month of the year, the City of Kingston actually had 18% more active residential listings compared to a year ago (435 vs 369).  This helped lead to a slight increase in the number of sales for the month as well (92 vs 89).

Detached homes in Kingston saw an increase in inventory by 8% (325 vs 301), but actually had a decrease of sales by 6% (61 vs 65).  The average/median sold price combination increased by 7.5% for detached homes in January in Kingston Proper compared to a year ago (this increase was due in part to more larger student rentals and new builds selling compared to last year).

Interestingly, semi-detached and townhouses saw availability almost double this January vs last (81 vs 45), and this spurred on many first-time buyers and downsizers for a gigantic increase in number of units sold – 73% more!  Many of these sales were newly built inventory and helped raise the average/median combo sold price by 20% to $320,000.Residential sales in Greater Napanee totaled 7 in January.  Gananoque and the surrounding area of Leeds actually doubled to 18, while cottage country and areas north of the Kingston City Limits saw a dozen sales.  Not surprising for this time of year, The Islands didn’t record one firm sale in January (last year the only sale was over $1.7 million, which is why it pulled the overall stats down).  If you’re curious to know the stats for your type of home in your particular area, just let us know and we would be happy to help!