Residential property sales in the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. (BDAR) region numbered 470 units in April 2019. This was an increase of 21.1% from April 2018.

“Sales in the area are still running slightly quieter than average in April 2019, however the improving year over year comparison has a better out look than this time last year”, said Tania Artenosi, 2019 BDAR President. “The combination of the Ontario Fair Housing Plan, the B-20 stress test, interest rate increases along with increase housing prices are still having an effect on our market.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price for Barrie & District was $459,800, down 5.3% in April 2019 compared to April 2018. The benchmark price for single-family homes was $468,600 in April, 6% lower on a year-over-year basis.

By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $306,300, up 5.1% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $358,500, up 7.6%.

The year-to-date average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie in 2019 was $486,085. This was up a slight 0.9% compared to the year-to-date average selling price in 2018. The year-to-date average price figure in surrounding areas thus far in 2019 was $537,766, an increase of 3.9% compared to the year-to-date average price in 2018.

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.

Active residential listings numbered 1,329 units at the end of April, up 4.5% from levels at the end of April 2018 and a six-year high for this time of the year. Months of inventory numbered 2.8 at the end of April 2019, down from the 3.3 months recorded at the end of April 2018 and close to the 10-year average of 2.6 months 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.