Well, it has been quite the year for the Barrie condo market. Not too much excitement for sellers, and buyers seemed to take their time with making decisions.
We mostly saw prices slowly drop month after month and average days on market grow. Unfortunately, supply was always much greater than demand, which created a buyer’s market for the majority of the year.
Interestingly enough, the average sale price for a condo apartment in Barrie dropped 2.6 per cent since November of last year, but the median price is actually up 11 per cent! It is always refreshing to enter a new year with numbers like this, especially after the year Barrie has had.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for condo townhouses. There was a drop in both the average sale price and median price year-over-year by approximately seven per cent. Why might this be?
With the prices of freehold townhouses dropping in 2018, there was more seller competition in the market place for condo townhouses. Buyers that would have purchased into the condo market in previous years started looking at the freehold sector again. They found that it was the same price monthly, if not cheaper, to do their own maintenance rather than paying a condo fee.
The total number of condo units that are currently for sale in Barrie is 98. This is actually the first time Barrie has seen condo inventory under 100 units for sale at a given time since March of this year. I’m not sure if this is because supply and demand are approaching equilibrium, or if sellers are simply taking their homes off the market over the holidays and relist in the new year.
If you are thinking of selling in 2019, my suggestion would be to hit the market in January if you want to minimize your competition. Because the Barrie real estate market didn’t see any peaks in 2018, buyers might be starting their search early in fear of there being a price spike this spring.
*All condominium statistics are from sales recorded on the Matrix System through the Barrie & District Association of REALTORS Inc. (BDAR)
