Barrie Real Estate Outlook for 2012

Welcome to 2012!! Every new year brings a chance for resolutions and an opportunity to look back at the past year and look forward to new opportunities and personal improvements.

According to Catherine Garbe, president of the Barrie & District Association of Realtors, the Barrie real estate market remains “balanced” heading into 2012.  “It has actually been a fairly good summer and fall compared to a year ago” says Garbe.  We all remember that 2010 featured some volatility in the market resulting from interest rates and the introduction of the provincial HST.  “Compared to a year ago, the last four months of 2011 are up.  Average prices have remained static.  We are dealing with a balanced market” according to Garbe.* The majority of sales are still falling into the $200,000 to $250,000 mark but it is interesting to note that sales in the Barrie luxury home & waterfront market, namely those homes starting at $500,000 have increased slightly  over 2010 numbers by a small margin of 7 properties.

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However, the seemingly endless rise in Canadian housing prices seems to finally be coming to an end. After gains in nine straight months, resale prices measured by the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index were unchanged from the previous month. The same was true even in the normally Vancouver market, where prices had surged for 11 consecutive months.

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The slowdown in the index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes in 11 major markets, was welcomed by Marc Pinsonneault, senior economist at National Bank Financial, who said “Price gains of almost one per cent per month over the previous three months were unsustainable. “It signals that price increases are going to align more with current markets,” said Pinsonneault yet these figures could also signal that the decade-long surge in residential real estate values has come to a close, said Pinsonneault, adding “it is a wake-up call to investors expecting outsized returns from future real estate purchases”

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So, with continued low interest rates and house prices becoming more balanced, if there ever has been a time to consider buying that luxury or waterfront home, the time is now! CMHC analysts are predicting the market to remain balanced until 2013 when prices will start to increase again.

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We are seeing  listings of luxury homes and waterfront properties coming on board every day. Perhaps 2012 is the year for you to make the move!  If so, please give me a call.  I’m happy to help!

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Krista Alkerton has been an accomplished, result driven Barrie real estate agent for over 15 years now, specializing in luxury homes and waterfront property in the Barrie and Lake Simcoe areas