Housing prices continue to climb in Bradford and Innisfil.
In its latest monthly report, the Barrie and District Association of Realtors (BDAR) highlights the “steady upward trajectory” in Simcoe County's residential real estate market for March. Although year-over-year sales fell by about 1.4 per cent last month, they did increase by nearly 18.2 per cent over February 2024 figures.
As far as other year-over-year stats go, the average price in March climbed to $871,394 across the county — up 2.1 per cent from the same month in 2023. But new listings (down 27.6 per cent to 1,580), active listings (down 8.6 per cent to 1,579) and months of inventory (down 7.3 per cent to 2.4) all sank.
Within Bradford, specifically, total home sales dropped by 13.5 per cent — from 52 in March 2023 to 45 last month. However, the average price rose to $1.1 million (up .6 per cent), new listing climbed 28.4 per cent to 104, active listings increased 21.1 per cent to 86 and months of inventory jumped 40 per cent to 1.9 when compared to data from one year ago.
A different year-over-year picture was painted in Innisfil, though, where total sales and prices went up by 18.2 and 1.3 per cent — to 78 and $967,717 — respectively, but new listings (down 1.4 per cent to 210), active listings (down 4.6 per cent to 208) and months of inventory (down 19.3 per cent to 2.7) all declined.
"The March statistics showcase the resilience and adaptability of (the) county's real estate market,” BDAR chair Lindsay Percy said in a statement. “Despite a slight year-over-year decrease in sales, the substantial month-over-month increase and the continued growth in average prices demonstrate the underlying strength of our housing landscape. The increase in new listings from last month is a positive sign, offering more options for buyers and contributing to a healthy market dynamic as we move into the spring market."
Here’s how three other local municipalities fared last month:
- Barrie — Overall, 230 homes sold in March 2024, up 3.1 per cent from the same month the year prior. The average sale price was $768,674 last month, up 6.4 per cent from one year ago. New listings dropped 41.8 per cent to 441 over that span, and active listings declined by five per cent to 358. There is 1.6 months' worth of inventory left on the city’s market.
- Essa — Twenty-eight units sold (a 21.7 per cent increase) for an average of $863,879 (a 10.3 per cent jump). New listings declined 45.7 per cent to 57, active listings dropped 12.3 per cent to 57, and there was two months of inventory.
- Orillia — Thirty-five units sold (a 2.9 per cent increase) for an average of $749,900 (up 7.9 per cent). New listings dropped 35 per cent to 67, active listings increased 14.8 per cent to 70, and there were two months of inventory available.
Across Ontario, home prices rebounded slightly in March, figures released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) Friday show.
Prices stabilized in February, ending a five-month fall that began last summer.
On a year-over-year basis, the average single-family home in the province sold for $951,900 in March, up 1.9 per cent from the average of $934,300 they sold for in March of 2023.
The CREA numbers are seasonally adjusted and do not take inflation into account.
Inflation, depending on what measure you choose, is running at between 3.4 and 3.7 per cent.
National data showed a bounce in new supply roughly in the second week of March.
“We’ll have to wait for the April data to really understand how buyers are responding to all these new properties for sale, but if you look at last spring as a guide and add to that record population growth in the last year and a central bank that is far more likely to cut this summer than raise like it did last year, it could get interesting,” said Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist.
Within Ontario, sales in the north continued to show much stronger growth than those elsewhere in the province.
Locally in Simcoe County in March, single-family house prices were up 3.8 per cent, condos were essentially unchanged, and townhouses were up 2.2 per cent compared to March 2023, CREA says.
BDAR represents 1,600 realtors throughout the region. For more details on the organization, visit bdar.ca.
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