The statistics are in for January 2021 and in spite of Covid 19 lockdowns and business closures, Barrie and District Real Estate Board had tremendous gains in housing market activity as compared to January 2020.
Its important to note that we are comparing pandemic numbers to pre-pandemic numbers.
City of Barrie
In the first month of 2021 the City of Barrie sold 160 units which with was up by 23.1% over January 2020. In Simcoe County, excluding Barrie, the number of units sold was 306, up by 20% above January 2020. The average sale price for Barrie is now a whopping 36.1% above last January to $361,307.
Simcoe County
In Simcoe County, excluding Barrie, prices were up over last January by 48.6% to $755,271.
Simcoe County, including Barrie, sold 466 units, up 21% and the average price overall was $733,309 which is up by 44.3% above that of January 2020.
Toronto
If you want to compare Barrie to Toronto, the number of units sold in Toronto was up by 52.4% as compared to January 2020 or 6928 units. The average sale price was up only 15.5% to $967,885.
Even though Toronto sold many more properties than Simcoe County, our price increases were substantially higher. This supports the theory that many residents from the big city have sold their homes and moved to Barrie. This caused a shortage in available properties for sale, driving up prices.
How does that factor into your decision making?
This is good news for home sellers in Barrie who aren’t buying within Barrie and are looking at lower price ranges. Those who may be moving to locations of similar pricing to Barrie may feel the need to stay put until there is more availability and affordability in their desired location.
Conversely, if you’re thinking of selling and either renting or moving to a lower valued home, you may realize great profit. Its good timing for those such as seniors who may be downsizing to live mortgage free.
The bad news is for first time buyers who will find it difficult to accumulate the down payment needed to purchase and qualify for the high prices.
Given the expectation that mortgage interest will stay low for at least a couple of years, we shall see how much that contributes the economic recovery and fast paced real estate markets.
Written with excerpts from The Barrie and District Association of Realtors.
If you have any other questions about our mortgage services, give me a call at (705) 791-6683. You can also send me a message online.
