Residential property sales recorded through the MLS® System of the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® Inc. numbered 201 units in December 2013. This was a rebound of 17 per cent from last year’s weaker December. Within the City of Barrie sales activity was up 22 per cent from a year earlier. The City of Barrie saw 118 residential sales in December.

A total of 4,648 homes traded hands in the region in 2013. This was up by 1.6 per cent from 2012, marking the best annual sales figure since 2007 and one of the best years on record.

“Home sales sprang back in December following a dip in November. It was the best month of December for sales since 2009 and also came in above the five and 10-year averages for the month,” said Jerry Hay, President of the Barrie and District Association of REALTORS®. “For 2013 as a whole, demand and prices were both up. Annual sales activity was basically tied with 2004 and 2005 for the second highest level ever, and the average sale price advanced by six per cent.”

The annual average price for all homes sold via the Association’s MLS® System in 2013 was $317,883, up 6.1 per cent from 2012.

The annual average price figure for homes sold within the City of Barrie was $299,782. This was a five per cent increase compared to the average selling price in 2012.

The Barrie & District Association of REALTORS® cautions that over a period of time, the use of average price information can be useful in establishing trends, but it does not indicate actual prices in widely divergent areas or account for price differentials between geographical areas.

The dollar value of all home sales in December 2013 was $58.1 million, up 13 per cent from year-ago levels.

New residential listings were down four per cent from a year earlier to 206 units in December 2013. This was the lowest level of new listings in a decade.

Overall supply remains below levels seen in most of the past decade. Active residential listings on the Association’s MLS® System numbered 847 units at the end of December 2013, down four per cent from year-ago levels and the lowest December since 1999.

There were 4.2 months of inventory at the end of December 2013. This was down from 5.1 months at the end of December 2012 and stood below the long-run average for this time of year as well. 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 214 units in December, up 16 per cent compared to December 2012. The total value of all properties sold in December 2013 was $61 million, rising 15 per cent on a year-over-year basis.