Home sales activity in the area served by the Barrie
and District Association of REALTORS® edged down on a year-over-year
basis in the second quarter of 2010.
Residential sales totaled 1,441
units in the second quarter. This is 3.2 per cent below activity in
the same period last year. Home sales had remained strong in April,
but declined sharply in May and also came in soft in
June.
Changes to mortgage rules that came
into effect in late April are widely thought to have resulted in
many first-time home purchases having been brought forward earlier
this year. This would explain the softer sales figures in May and
June, as well as the fact that declines were almost entirely focused
among low and mid-priced properties.
Some
2,391 homes traded hands over the first half of 2010. This remains
12 per cent above activity in the first six months of
2009.
Detached
home sales activity numbered 1,112 units in the second quarter of
2010.
This is a decline of 5.5 per cent
from the same quarter last year
Meanwhile,
active listings for detached homes edged up compared to the second
quarter of 2009. This resulted in a more balanced market, with
the
number of months of inventory climbing to 4.3 at the end of the
second quarter of 2010, which is characteristic of a more balanced
market. It was up from a record low of 3.2 months a year
earlier.
The
median price for detached home sales rose 6.7 per cent on a
year-over-year basis to $276,250 in the second quarter of 2010. This
is the highest median price on record.
Detached |
|
|
Q2
2010 |
Q2
2009 |
Year-over-year
percentage change |
|
Unit
sales |
|
1,177 |
-5.5 |
|
Median
sale price
($) |
|
259,000 |
+6.7 |
