Saint John MLS® market activity remains subdued in February

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Saint John Real Estate Board totaled 105 units in February 2023. This was a notable decrease of 23.4% from February 2022.

Home sales were 27.7% below the five-year average and 17.8% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 197 units over the first two months of the year, declining by 30.9% from the same period in 2022.

“Although down significantly from the same time last year, we saw a bit of a bump in sales from January. This represented the first month-over-month increase since June 2022. Looking through the seasonality, market performance appears to have stabilized over the past couple of months,” said Kevin Donovan, President of the Saint John Real Estate Board. “The number of newly listed properties in February was significantly below what we would expect to see at this time of year. Consequently, overall inventory fell to the second lowest level in our region’s history. To sum up, sales are soft, new listings are far below average, and active listings are hovering only slightly above the lowest level on record. Having said that, the usually busy spring season is right around the corner and with the Bank of Canada signaling it will likely pause its tightening cycle, we may well see market activity pick up. Only time will tell if the current conditions will persist or if we will see a return to a more traditional spring market this year.”

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 $268,400 in February 2023, nearly unchanged, down only 0.1% compared to February 2022.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $269,100, essentially unchanged, down just 0.2% on a year-over-year basis in February. By comparison, the benchmark apartment price was $230,000, increasing by 6.5% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in February 2023 was $250,664, a decline of 17.1% from February 2022.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $247,668, decreasing by 12.1% from the first two months of 2022.

The dollar value of all home sales in February 2023 was $26.3 million, down by 36.5% from the same month in 2022.

The number of new listings fell 34.1% from February 2022. There were 139 new residential listings in February 2023. This was the lowest number of new listings added in the month of February in more than four decades.

New listings were 29% below the five-year average and 41.7% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

Active residential listings numbered 372 units on the market at the end of February, a moderate decrease of 9.5% from the end of February 2022. Active listings haven’t been this low in the month of February in more than two decades.

Active listings were 48.6% below the five-year average and 67.6% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

Months of inventory numbered 3.5 at the end of February 2023, up from the 3 months recorded at the end of February 2022 and below the long-run average of 9.9 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.