Barrie & District Home Sales Running Just Short of Record Levels in August
Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. numbered 437 units in August 2014. This was an increase of 10 per cent from last August.
Within the City of Barrie sales activity rose 13 per cent from a year earlier. The City of Barrie saw 266 residential sales in August. A year-over-year increase of six per cent was recorded in surrounding areas, where sales activity totalled 171 units.
“August was another strong month for home sales in Barrie and surrounding areas, with sales hitting the highest level for the month of August in seven years and running not far off the record for the month set a decade ago,” said Jerry Hay, President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®. “While supply has risen in recent months, the market remains historically tight. As a result, price gains continue to run well ahead of inflation.”
The year-to-date average price for all homes sold via the Association’s MLS® System to the end August 2014 was $339,807, up 6.6 per cent from the first eight months of 2013
The year-to-date average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie was $319,416. This was a six per cent increase compared to the average selling price at the same time in 2013. The year-to-date average price figure for the surrounding areas was $369,494, an increase of 7.5 per cent over the same period from last year.
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 August 2014 was $144.6 million, up 14 per cent from year-ago levels. This was a record for the month of August.
August recorded the fourth consecutive double-digit year-over-year increase in new supply and also set a record for the month. New residential listings rose 13 per cent from a year earlier to 696 units in August 2014.
Overall supply remains below levels seen in most of the past decade but has ticked higher in recent months. Active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System numbered 1,459 units at the end of August 2014, up three per cent from year-ago levels.
There were 3.3 months of inventory at the end of August 2014. This was down slightly from 3.6 months at the end of August 2013 and stood well below the long-run average for this time of year as well. 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 454 units in August, rising 10.5 per cent compared to August 2013. The total value of all properties sold in August 2014 was $150 million, up 16.5 per cent on a year-over-year basis.