Residential property sales recorded through the Matrix™ System in the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. (BDAR) region numbered 464 units in May 2019. This was an increase of 23.1% from May 2018 but was still below average for the month. On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 1,828 units over the first five months of the year, an increase of 14.6% from the same period in 2018.

Within the City of Barrie, residential sales activity numbered 226 units in May 2019, up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. A similar year-over-year increase of 23.2% was recorded in surrounding areas, where sales activity totalled 224 units in May 2019.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI), tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price for Barrie & District was $466,600, down 6.1% in May 2019 compared to May 2018.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $474,800, down 7% on a year-over-year basis in May. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $301,200, up 2.3% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $365,600, rising 6.7%.

The average price of homes sold in May 2019 was $531,323, up 7% from May 2018. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $518,804, up 4.1% from the first five months of 2018.

The year-to-date average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie thus far in 2019 was $492,183, up by 1.9% compared to the year-to-date average selling price in 2018. The year-to-date average price figure in surrounding areas was $543,192, an increase of 5.4% compared to the year-to-date average price in 2018.

The dollar value of all home sales in May 2019 was $246.5 million, a large 31.7% increase from the same month in 2018.

There were 1,047 new residential listings in May 2019. This was a decrease of 10% on a year-over-year basis. Active residential listings numbered 1,586 units at the end of May, edging down only 0.8% (12 listings) from levels seen at the end of May 2018.

Months of inventory numbered 3.4 at the end of May 2019, down from the 4.2 months recorded at the end of May 2018 and below the long-run average of 4.1 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.

Sales of all property types in the Barrie region numbered 491 units in May 2019, an increase of 21.2% from May 2018. The total value of all properties sold was $289 million, jumping 41.5% from May 2018.