The head of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors is calling the local real estate market 'stable' in 2025 and expects more of the same in 2026.
The association is reporting that year-to-date listings are up 12.3 per cent with 12,984 available listings to end 2025.
The monthly report from WECAR also finds a 13.6 per cent year-over-year increase in available listings in December, with 459 homes on the market compared to 404 in December 2024.
Year-to-date sales are down 2 per cent with 5,112 homes sold so far this year compared to 5,006 in 2024.
Year-over-year sales are also down, with 261 homes sold this past December compared to 280 in December 2024, a 6.79 per cent decrease.
President of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors Julianna Biondo says 2025 was a direct reflection of several factors that impacted the region, including decisions made by U.S. President Donald Trump, such as tariffs, resulting in an overall 'flat year.'
But Biondo says "flat" doesn't mean bad; it actually equals stability.
She predicts another stable year in 2026, which is exactly what the consumer wants.
"I think that from '26 going forward, we're going to see a lot of buyers and sellers coming out of the woodwork and off the sidelines, and they're going to be like, 'Okay, now I feel like there is a benchmark; I know exactly what I'm going to be getting and what I'm going to be paying,'" she says.
Biondo says the market has recovered nicely to be more on par with before 2021, when the craziness ensued, which suggests stability.
"There's a huge advantage right now for folks under the $600,000 mark that you can still see a seller's market in that sense. Anything over $600,000, you're looking more toward a buyer's market, so there is a good foundation there for anyone looking to upgrade," she says.
The average sales price was $524,840 in December, a 9.6 per cent decrease over the average price of $580,700 in December 2024.
Year-to-date, the average sales price was $568,822, down 1.6 per cent from the average price of $578,169 a year ago.