Forty fewer closings than last August, yet average prices barely budged. Here's what the latest WECAR numbers actually show.
The Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS® has released its August 2026 President's Report, and the headline number is hard to miss: residential sales fell 8.55% compared to August 2025. That's 428 closings versus 468 last year, a gap of 40 transactions.
The price side of the report tells a different story. The average sale price came in at $563,971, just $457 less than last August's $564,428. A decline of 0.08% is about as close to flat as monthly data gets. Buyers who've been waiting for a price correction aren't finding one here, at least not at the top line.
August saw 1,127 new listings enter the market, down 3.34% from the 1,166 new listings in August 2025. With fewer properties coming to market and fewer closing, overall activity softened on both sides.
At the time of the report, there were 1,246 active residential listings in the region. That's a solid inventory level relative to the current sales pace, and it gives buyers more selection than they had during the tighter spring months when new listings peaked at 1,333 in April.
The August 2026 average of $563,971 compared to $564,428 last year amounts to a rounding error. That's a $457 difference on a half-million-dollar purchase.
The median price shows a bit more movement. August's median landed at $515,000, down 1.90% from $525,000 a year earlier. A $10,000 drop suggests the lower half of the market softened slightly more than the upper half.
Year-to-date, the gap widens. The average YTD price sits at $556,676 compared to $573,560 through August 2025, a 2.94% decline. The YTD median tells a similar story at $515,000 versus $530,000, down 2.83%.
| Metric | August 2026 | August 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Price (Monthly) | $563,971 | $564,428 | -0.08% |
| Median Price (Monthly) | $515,000 | $525,000 | -1.90% |
| Average Price (YTD) | $556,676 | $573,560 | -2.94% |
| Median Price (YTD) | $515,000 | $530,000 | -2.83% |
The price-range breakdown for August shows activity heavily concentrated between $360,000 and $700,000. The single busiest bracket was $420,000 to $549,999 with 123 sales, nearly 29% of all August closings. The $550,000 to $699,999 range followed with 94 sales.
Below those brackets, the $360K to $420K range saw 51 closings and the $300K to $360K range added 41. Together, homes priced between $300,000 and $700,000 accounted for the vast majority of August's transactions.
Above $1 million, 22 homes sold in the $1M to $1.5M bracket. Ten sales landed between $2M and $2.5M. Nothing above $2.5M changed hands in August.
The entry-level market (under $260,000) produced 30 sales across several brackets, a thin slice of the 428 total.
Through eight months, Windsor-Essex has recorded 3,261 residential sales against 3,436 for the same period in 2025. That's a 5.09% shortfall. Total market activity (sales plus new listings combined) also trails, down 3.26% at 8,817 transactions versus 9,114.
Monthly sales have run below 2025 levels in every month so far. The narrowest gap was January, where 2026 trailed by just four sales (267 vs. 271). The widest gap was May, when 424 closings fell 93 short of May 2025's 517.
The YTD price-range data reinforces the mid-market concentration. The $420K to $550K bracket leads with 846 sales year-to-date, followed by $550K to $700K with 763. Those two brackets alone represent nearly half of all 2026 sales.
Buyer tip: With 1,246 active listings and sales volume running below last year's pace, buyers have more negotiating room than they did six months ago. The $420K to $550K sweet spot is still competitive, so pricing strategy matters on both sides of the transaction.
Whether you're buying into this market or considering a sale, local data matters. Talk to an agent who tracks these numbers every month.
Contact Jump RealtyWindsor • Kingsville • LaSalle • Harrow • Leamington • Chatham • Toronto
Source: Windsor-Essex County Association of REALTORS®
Residential Stats President's Report for August 2026
