Buyers continue to lack urgency to purchase real estate as they wait to see if there will be a further reduction in interest rates in a couple of weeks.
If interest rates remain unchanged and more properties hit the market in September, housing prices in Barrie may come down further.
July marked the slowest month for condo apartment sales in Barrie since February of this year. There were only 19 units that sold, with an average sale price of $591,500.
Even though sales were down this summer, it was interesting to see that July was the second consecutive month the average sale price was much higher than in previous months this year. This increase in the average sale price could have been influenced by the decrease in interest rates in both June and July.
Condo townhouses continue to be a favourite property type among buyers. They are affordable and offer more indoor and outdoor space than a condo apartment-style property. Last month, there were 10 condo townhouses that sold in Barrie, with an average sale price of $515,390, which was up from June.
It is too early to tell if this new upward trend in prices is here to stay, but there are some additional early signs showing the condo market in Barrie may be improving. In July and the first half of August, properties in the condominium sector — apartments and townhouses combined — took an average of 33 days to sell and sold for 99 per cent of their list price.
This is quite positive to report, but it is challenging to collect and include all the data for every property that has sold.
For instance, when sellers choose to do a price reduction, most listing agents will cancel the listing and then relist the property by signing a new listing agreement. This is done because the property will show up as a fresh listing on the real estate board and will be at the top of the list when potential buyers are searching on Realtor.ca.
Although there are advantages in doing this, it does have an impact on the data that is collected.
It is great that there are some areas that have improved in the Barrie condo market, but there is too much inventory currently on the market.
A further reduction in interest rates would help with this problem as it may prompt more buyers to enter the real estate market and purchase.
The next announcement from the Bank of Canada will be Sept. 4. If rates do come down again, this fall and winter will be an optimal time to purchase a condominium in Barrie.
There are currently 223 condominiums for sale in Barrie — 169 condo apartments, 36 condo townhouses and 18 leasehold condos.
If no other condo were to hit the market in Barrie, it would take seven months to sell all the current condo inventory, whereas last summer, by comparison, there was only four months of inventory on the market.
