Barrie and District home sales post near-record February
Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. numbered 350 units in February 2016, an increase of 4.5 per cent from February 2015; this was the second best February on record after 2012.
Within the City of Barrie, sales activity rose 11.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis. The City of Barrie saw 228 residential sales in February. A year-over-year increase of 13.8 per cent was recorded in surrounding areas, where sales activity totalled 148 units.
“Home sales continue to trend near record levels, limited only by a lack of inventory,” said Mike Douglas, President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®. “With supply struggling to keep pace with demand, prices are posting double-digit year-over-year gains.”
The average price for all homes sold via the Association’s MLS® System in February 2016 was $410,538, up 18.2 per cent from February 2015. This was the first time on record that the average home price in the region has surpassed the $400,000 mark.
The average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie was $386,866. This was a 21.3 per cent increase compared to the average selling price in February 2015.
The average price figure for the surrounding areas in 2016 was $442,967, an increase of 13.1 per cent from the average selling price in February 2015.
The Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® cautions that over a period of time, the use of average price information can be useful in establishing trends, but it does not indicate actual prices in widely divergent areas or account for price differentials between geographical areas.
The dollar value of all home sales in February 2016 was $143.7 million, rising 23.5 per cent from year-ago levels. This was the best February on record and the first time volumes in this month had risen above $120 million.
New residential listings were down seven per cent from February 2015 to 573 units in February 2016.
Overall supply is currently trending near the lowest levels on record. Active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System numbered 805 units at the end of February 2016, down 22.3 per cent from year-ago levels.
There were just 2.3 months of inventory at the end of February 2016, down from 3.1 months a year earlier and below the long-run average for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
Sales of all property types in the Barrie region numbered 373 units in February, up 6.0 per cent compared to February 2015. The total value of all properties sold in February 2016 was $155.4 million, up 30.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis.
*The Barrie and District Association of REALTORS® Inc. covers a geographical area that includes the City of Barrie and part or all of the surrounding townships, including Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Innisfil, Essa, Bradford-West Gwillimbury and Clearview. The Association provides continuing education, Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®), statistical information, and many other services to its members.