Barrie December 2019 Market Update & Thoughts on 2020

 

Happy New Year to all our wonderful clients and friends! We hope that 2020 has started with a bang! We’ll get to our thoughts on the upcoming market in 2020 (below), but first, we want to share a market update for December 2019.

BDAR, the Barrie & District Association of Realtors, has just published the December 2019 market statistics – find all the details below:

“In 2019 home prices were up again in most markets. Buyer demand continues to be strong but with tepid seller activity still in many locations, total sales are lower than they would normally be in a more balanced market. While up from their recent lows a few months ago, mortgage rates end the year close to three-quarters of a percent lower than a year ago, helping to improve affordability and offset rising home prices.

New Listings decreased 28.7 percent for Single Family homes and 13.2 percent for Townhouse/Condo homes. Sales increased 14.7 percent for Single Family homes and 23.5 percent for Townhouse/Condo homes. Inventory decreased 26.3 percent for Single Family homes and 44.4 percent for Townhouse/Condo homes.

Median Sales Price increased 13.5 percent to $562,000 for Single Family homes and 1.9 percent to $397,450 for Townhouse/Condo homes. Days on Market decreased 8.7 percent for Single Family homes and 24.3 percent for Townhouse/Condo homes. Months Supply of Inventory decreased 36.0 percent for Single Family homes and 47.4 percent for Townhouse/Condo homes.

Home buyer activity is expected to remain healthy into the new year. It remains to be seen whether existing homeowners will be enticed to sell by higher home prices, which could finally bring the overall housing market into greater balance.”

Current as of January 2, 2020. All data from ORTIS. Based in whole or in part on MLS® System data owned by Barrie & District Association of REALTORS®. | Report © 2020 ShowingTime.

Thoughts on 2020

Now here are my thoughts on the ground.  We are just over a week into the New Year and we have seen an uptick in Buyer activity, while supply still remains relatively low. This trend is ideal for Sellers who have the forethought to capitalize on this and list in January. We expect days on market to stay at a relatively low rate over the next two months.

During the month of December, we saw many multiple offer situations especially the $400k through the $500k range. Even with the mortgage Stress Test, buyers have had 2 1/2 years to save a bigger down payment and of course, these buyers are driving north so they can afford to purchase. The Mortgage Stress Test that was implemented in 2017 is still putting pressure on the 700k plus range here in the Barrie Real Estate Market. My sense is that with the increased buyer demand at the $400k range, we will see some increased liquidity in the $700k plus range over the next 4-6 months. We need the first time home buyers to be strong so that the move-up buyers can purchase their next place and help the down-sizers stay liquid.

If you are thinking of selling this year I highly recommend that you reach out to us today as we are seeing lower levels of listing inventory (we need more houses to hit the market). These lower levels of listing inventory will help to keep prices higher than they were last year.

As always if you are looking for a Barrie Realtor that is going to tell you the truth, then reach out to me and let me help you navigate this market.