The Barrie & District Association of Realtors (BDAR) had an amazing February.
From CREA STATS:
The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® totaled 569 units in February 2021. This was a substantial increase of 34.5% from February 2020. This was also a new sales record for the month of February.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled a record 872 units over the first two months of the year. This was a big gain of 31.9% from the same period in 2020.
Within the City of Barrie, residential sales activity numbered 330 units in February 2021. This was a large increase of 46% on a year-over-year basis.
Sales activity recorded an increase of 21.3% on a year-over-year basis in surrounding areas, where sales totalled 239 units in February 2021.
"We’ve only had two times in history where sales in the month of February had just peaked above 400, and now sales in February 2021 broke the 500 mark," said Chantal Godard, President of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS®. "The incredible surge in sales was very much due to a wave of new supply coming back to the market, with new listings posting the highest February in almost 30 years. This helped to take some of the pressure off the market balance but make no mistake, even with inventories stepping up from record lows price gains strengthened even further in February."
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 was $685,800, up sharply by 33.8% in February 2021 compared to February 2020.
The benchmark price for single-family homes was $721,000, a sharp increase of 34.9% on a year-over-year basis in February. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $500,700, up sharply by 42.2% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $403,000, increasing by 13.8% from year-ago levels.
In February 2021 the average price of homes sold was a record $767,444, a substantial gain of 34% from February 2020.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $763,765, was a sharp increase of 34.9% from the first two months of 2020.
The year-to-date average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie in February 2021 was $702,514. This was a large increase of 36.3% compared to the same month in 2020.
The year-to-date average price figure in surrounding areas in February 2021 was $839,815, significantly increasing by 34.3% compared to the same month in 2020.
The Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® cautions that over time the use of average price information can be useful in establishing trends but 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 2021 was $436.7 million, up sharply by 80.3% from the same month in 2020. This was also a new record for the month of February.
In February 2021 there were 839 new residential listings, a substantial increase of 34% from February 2020. This was the largest number of new listings added in the month of February in more than 25 years.
There were 392 active residential listings on the market at the end of February. This was a big decline of 50.3% from the end of February 2020.
Months of inventory numbered 0.7 at the end of February 2021, down from the 1.9 months recorded at the end of February 2020 and below the long-run average of 2.7 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.