Southern New Brunswick witnessed a chill in real estate activity during the month of September.

Figures from the Saint John Real Estate Board show a total of 186 homes were sold last month.

That was 10 per cent lower than one year earlier and as much as 20 per cent below the long-term average.

“A dip was also seen in the number of properties freshly listed on the market, coming in just beneath the month’s historical averages,” said board president Kevin Donovan.

There were 262 new residential listings in September, a decrease of seven listings (2.6 per cent) year over year.

New listings were as much as 16 per cent below the long-term average for this time of year.

Active residential listings also came in 38 per cent below the long-term average, with 549 units on the market at the end of September.

Months of inventory — the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity — numbered 3.0, down from the long-run average of 7.7 months for this time of year.

Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a single-family home stood at $298,600, a year-over-year increase of 7.5 per cent.

“Even as the market balance has relaxed marginally, the scales remain decidedly tipped in favour of sellers,” 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.