Home sales activity in the area served by the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS® was up on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Residential sales totaled 823 units in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11 per cent from activity in the same period in 2010. This marks the second consecutive quarter of double digit growth in home sales.

On an annual basis 4,228 residential properties traded hands in 2011, an increase of three percent from 2010.

Seasonally adjusted activity was up two per cent from the third quarter of 2011.

Detached home sales activity numbered 366 units in the fourth quarter of 2011. This was a decrease of 37 per cent from the same quarter in 2010.

The market was more balanced in the fourth quarter of 2011 than it had been in the same period in 2010, with the number of months of inventory rising to 5.9. Regardless, buyers still took more time to shop compared to a year earlier.

The median price for detached home sales edged up four per cent on a year-over-year basis to $275,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011.