Saint John sales mark second best January on record as supply rapidly disappears

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Saint John Real Estate Board totaled 150 units in January 2022. This was a sharp decrease of 12.8% from January 2021.

Home sales were 15.4% above the five-year average and 39.3% above the 10-year average for the month of January.

“There was no momentum lost moving from 2021 to 2022, as sales activity remains historically strong and well above almost every other January on record,” said Corey Breau, President of the Saint John Real Estate Board. “There’s been an almost alarming decline in new listings coming onto the market to start the year, to the point where ongoing demand is drawing down inventory at an increasing pace. We hope to see more supply return to the market over the next few months as we approach the spring, but it’s going to take a significant number of new listings to ease the market tightness even a little.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $248,100 in January 2022, increasing by 24.5% compared to January 2021.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $249,300, a gain of 24.7% on a year-over-year basis in January. By comparison, the benchmark apartment price was $160,500, an increase of 16.5% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in January 2022 was $262,513, a substantial increase of 31.9% from January 2021.

The dollar value of all home sales in January 2022 was $39.4 million, increasing by 15.1% from the same month in 2021. This was also a new record for the month of January.

The number of new listings saw a sharp decrease of 23.7% from January 2021. There were 145 new residential listings in January 2022. This was the lowest number of new listings added in the month of January in more than 35 years.

New listings were 38.4% below the five-year average and 52.6% below the 10-year average for the month of January.

Active residential listings numbered 300 units on the market at the end of January, down sharply by 53.2% from the end of January 2021. Active listings haven’t been this low in the month of January in more than two decades.

Active listings were 67.1% below the five-year average and 75.7% below the 10-year average for the month of January.

Months of inventory numbered 2 at the end of January 2022, down from the 3.7 months recorded at the end of January 2021 and below the long-run average of 13.6 months 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 Saint John Real Estate Board is an association of approximately 300 REALTORS® that provides services to and sets standards for members. The Saint John Real Estate Board covers the southern part of New Brunswick to the U.S. border in St. Stephen, and includes the counties of St. John, Kings, Charlotte and portions of Queens County.