Barrie & District Home Sales Set New September Record
Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. numbered 445 units in September 2014. This was an increase of 15.9 per cent from last September.
Within the City of Barrie sales activity rose 9.7 per cent from a year earlier. The City of Barrie saw 248 residential sales in September. A year-over-year jump of 24.7 per cent was recorded in surrounding areas, where sales activity totaled 197 units.
“Resale housing activity remained very strong in September 2014, with sales setting a new record for the month,” said Jerry Hay, President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®. “While home sales in the City of Barrie were up almost 10 per cent from one year ago, most of the strength from the standpoint of standing so far above all other months of September in history actually came from activity in surrounding townships.”
Some 3,871 homes have traded hands so far this year. This stands 2.4 per cent above the same period last year and keeps activity on track to post the second best annual sales figure on record in 2014.
The year-to-date average price for all homes sold via the Association’s MLS® System to the end September 2014 was $339,952, up 6.2 per cent from the first three quarters of 2013.
The year-to-date average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie was $319,522. This was a 6.1 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 $369,199, an increase of 6.2 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 September 2014 was $151.8 million, up 18.3 per cent from year-ago levels. This was a record for the month of September.
September recorded a fifth consecutive double-digit year-over-year increase in new supply and also set a record for the month. New residential listings rose 24.1 per cent from a year earlier to 768 units in September 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 1,491 units at the end of September 2014, up 2.0 per cent from year-ago levels.
There were 3.4 months of inventory at the end of September 2014. This was down from 3.8 months at the end of September 2013 and stood 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 456 units in September, rising 15.7 per cent compared to September 2013. The total value of all properties sold in September 2014 was $157.0 million, up 21.0 per cent on a year-over-year basis.