A big drop in home sales across Windsor-Essex in February.
The Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors is reporting an over 27 per cent decrease in year-over-year sales with 237 homes sold in February compared to 327 in February 2025.
The monthly report from WECAR also finds year-to-date sales are down over 12 per cent with 525 homes sold so far in 2026 compared to 598 during the same time frame in 2025.
WECAR President Julianna Biondo says she believes consumer confidence is playing a big part in the 27 per cent decrease in sales.
"Consumer confidence is still a big player right now. I attended a conference recently, and the speaker had said that in Canada our confidence for consumers is lower than what it was back during the 2008 recession," she says.
Biondo says she believes there is a lot of pent-up demand and there will be a good spring season.
"More listings are coming to market, so more options are coming available. We have a real opportunity in this market right now for first-time buyers; you're getting great properties right now. This is finally the time for them and anybody looking to do an upgrade," she says.
The average sales price was $541,588 in February, a 3.8 per cent decrease over the average price of $563,237 in February 2025.
Year-to-date, the average sales price is $535,717, down 5.5 per cent from the average price of $567,043 posted by this time last year.
Biondo says the average sale price is down, but it has been steady for the last three months.
"Prices are fluctuating crazy right now; they're kind of stable. So, I think you're going to see, come the spring, more people coming out to the market, and it will improve," she says.
The WECAR report also says there were 764 new listings last month, up two per cent over February 2025.