Home sales remain below average across southern New Brunswick, according to one local real estate board.

The Saint John Real Estate Board reported 210 home sales during the month of May.

While that is higher than the previous month, it remained well below average for this time of year.

“New listings were also below average in May, with a lack of new supply hampering the recovery in sales activity,” Kevin Donovan, president of the real estate board, said in a news release.

The number of new listings in May increased slightly to 280, compared to 216 listings in April.

But both numbers remained much lower than what we would typically see for the month.

Overall inventory remained stable but was still well below historical averages, said Donovan.

Active residential listings numbered 475 units at the end of May, down 25 per cent from this time last year.

It has been more than two decades since active listings were this low in the month of May, said the board.

Months of inventory — the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity — numbered 2.3 at the end of May, down from the long-run average of 7.7 months for this time of year.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a single-family home in May stood at $282,500, up from just under $278,000 in April.

“Market conditions continued to be heavily in favour of sellers and if supply remains below average there is no reason to expect that will change any time soon,” said Donovan.

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 Saint John, Kings, Charlotte and portions of Queens.