If I had a million dollars, I could buy a house. But I wouldn’t be rich, not in Barrie and not right now.
A new report shows explosive growth of “luxury” real estate in Barrie last year. Luxury in the national Re/Max Canada 2022 Luxury Market Report is defined as being a house that sells at $1 million or higher; outside of Toronto and Vancouver, a $3-million house is considered a luxury.
The report, which was released Thursday, found 18 of the 19 regions examined recorded percentage increases in the double and triple digits.
In Barrie, the number of million-dollar properties sold shot up 517.8 per cent to 278 houses sold from 45 the previous year.
Elsewhere in Ontario, sales of homes priced over $1 million climbed 255.1 per cent, 208 per cent and 199.5 per cent respectively in London, Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton.
Nationally, that market jumped 1,400 per cent to 15 in Saint John, N.B., from one sale the previous year and 600 per cent in Moncton, N.B., increasing to seven from one sale.
“One million dollars is not luxury by any luxury brand definitions because our average price, when you look at the mix in Barrie of townhouses and semi-detached, our average is $850,000 in December,” said David Brown, a Re/Max Hallmark Chay Realty manager in Barrie and area. “So what we have is new price thresholds where a nice suburban family home, a four-bedroom home, is $1 million.”
Chantal + Michael Realty Group broker and real estate agent Chantal Godard calls the acceleration in prices and the unavailability of homes in the Barrie area a crisis. One million dollars bought a luxury home in 2016-17, she added, but now $1.5 million is the starting point for a luxury home in Barrie.
“For what buyers now have to pay to get into a single-family home in Barrie… it’s insane where the market has gone,” she said. “What it tells me right now is that we’re in a supply crisis and a housing crisis.”
In bordering Essa Township, a house listed at $1.35 million attracted 31 offers earlier this week and Godard thought her client’s $1.5-million firm offer would surely top the bids. But it didn’t. The house sold for $1.688 million.
Godard feels the current generation lucky enough to own a home will have to support the next generation in accessing the home purchase market. Creativity there is likely the key.
The Barrie & District Association of Realtors reported the average price of units sold within Barrie during December 2021 was $854,437 and $869,754 across Simcoe County.
In all of 2021, the average price of units sold in Barrie was $744,837 and $790,205 in Simcoe County, representing 30.9 per cent and 32 per cent increases over the previous year, respectively.
Meanwhile, 3,277 units were sold in the City of Barrie in 2021, representing a nine per cent growth from the same time frame last year. In Simcoe County, 9,862 residential units were sold in 2021, up 5.8 per cent over the previous year.
“The market’s defying gravity and it’s illogical and we don’t see it crashing or any bubbles,” said Brown, pointing to overwhelming demand combined with a shortage of inventory creating a problematic situation that may bobble but is unlikely to burst. “This is an unprecedented time in terms of pricing, and that’s not sustainable.”
A balanced housing market is defined as having six months of supply available to house purchasers but provincially, the supply is 1.6 months in Ontario, and it’s even lower in Barrie.
The real-estate agents say the rush to the Barrie area during the pandemic from the Greater Toronto Area is nothing new, it was just accelerated.
The population growth that is driving the demand is exciting, but the housing supply just isn’t there to meet it.
The 1,500 homes in Barrie last year was definitely an increase over previous years, but is only about one-third of what Godard figures is needed.
Meanwhile, Brown believes the Toronto exodus is accelerated by the continued development of condominium complexes where people, particularly millennials who are creating families, are looking for a place to stretch their legs and have more flexibility in their work space.
“We’re perfectly situated because we’re within striking distance, there’s improved transit,” he said. “And we have the infrastructure and the lake. We’re so well poised for future growth.
“We’re rich in the comparison (to Toronto) in terms of the amenities we have in this area — skiing, golfing, boating, any kind of leisure activity.”
