What you should know about Barrie Real Estate

Barrie City Guide

The city of Barrie is believed to be 34th largest among the cities in Canada. It has a population of slightly more than 150, 000 people living and working within the city. Barrie is situated in Central Ontario, Canada along the western shores of Lake Simcoe. With an area of 76.99 square kilometers for the city, 171.53 square kilometers for Urban and 897.47 square-kilometers for the metro, all these make Barrie an enticing real estate investment hub.

What makes Barrie City a popular place to live? The answer to this question lies in the city’s significant growth that has been witnessed in the recent past. Its close proximity to Toronto gives it another factor that makes Barrie an ideal place to settle. Also, the area has plenty to offer at any given time and location. But of great interest is the number of different architectural designs of the residential homes which gives property investors many options to choose from. You can check some of the property listings here:

https://www.homeads.ca/barrie-real-estate.

Given that the city is located within Simcoe County, it is interesting that it remains to be politically independent. Apart from that, the city is found at the heart of the Ontario's densely populated and highly industrialized zone. In fact, Barrie makes up 68 percent of the total population in Ontario which in turn comes to 26 percent of the Canadian population.

The city’s economy is well-rounded offering employment opportunities to those living there and beyond. Apparently, a staggering 14,800 individuals commute into the city for employment hence becoming a perfect place to establish a real estate. Besides, the flourishing tourism sector plays a crucial role in maintaining Barrie’s robust economy at higher levels.

 

Barrie Real Estate Market

A few years back, the real estate market indicated a very bright future for Barrie starting from the year 2016 onwards. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), homes sold from $420,000 with detached homes going for $426,613 and an average rent of $965.00.

For an experienced property investor, these figures give a clear indication of the growing real estate market in Barrie and it is projected that the housing starts are likely to increase by almost 4 percent. The main reason for this positive trend is attributed to the fact that there is an exponential growth of migrations and employment opportunities which will play a significant role in supporting the ever-increasing new housing starts.

Still, on the growth of the Barrie real estate, there is another positive indication that the real estate market will flourish with the existing house sales remaining stronger in 2016. This translates to over 4,800 houses sold in the same year.

However, the price of the current homes stands at an average of $ 450,000 with single-detached homes experiencing an increase in their sold price in 2016. Apart from that, the average rent set for two bedroom apartments was projected to $1158 per month, which is a slight increase in comparison with the previous year, 2015.

With an inventory of the existing housing going down to 1.7 percent, this figure was seen as being unprecedented particularly for Barrie real estate market. But there is still promising signs as the new houses get buyers rapidly with the increasing new residents in the area. This shows that the new house listings will have some impact on this housing trend but the overall results are yet to be realized.

Lately, there has been an increase in the price for many upcoming homes. In this case, the price for homes is shifting from $50,000 to $100,000 which to many property investors is a good observation. In the real sense, it shows that there is a huge demand for homes as the population in Barrie City increases with the improving economic activities within and the surrounding districts in Ontario. The real estate market, however, promises to remain steady in the coming years and so on.

 

September 2018-Real Estate Market Trends

In the month of September 2018, home sales gave a total of 175 residential sales. This value translates to an increase of 3.8 percent on what is known as year-over-year basis. In the surrounding areas, there was a year-over-year increase of about 5.8 percent for the residential sales.

Therefore, the average price of all homes sold in Barrie City comes to $479,716. This is a decrease of 4.5 percent in comparison to the first 9 months in the year 2017. The year-to-date price(average) of the homes sold in the neighboring districts up to 2018 was $ 525,347, which is a decrease of 6.7 percent from the initial nine months of the year 2017.

On the other hand, there were 905 new home listings in September 2018 making it an increase of about six listings on the year-over-year basis. Also, the active listings numbered 1,587 housing units towards the end of September and this contributed to an increase of 22 percent starting from the end of September 2017. As a result, this was perceived to be the highest level for the month of September 2018 since 2011.

Sales activities have been running at somewhat average levels from the summer of the year 2018. This is a little higher than what was seen way back in spring. On the contrary to the expectations, the prices are relatively lower on a year-over-year basis. The better part of it is that those price declines have been reducing drastically. When it comes to the month-to-month basis, those prices seem to have been sliding sideways in the course of the previous year (2017).

 

Conclusion

Barrie Real Estate market has seen a tremendous improvement in a couple of years. This comes about due to the ever growing population in the city as more and more people come in to take the available jobs, thanks to the booming industries in the area. Most significantly, Barrie city stands out as a perfect location for those moving from Toronto and nearby cities to settle there and establish themselves. That is why the prices of homes have been on the rise as demand increases. In addition to that, the city has world-class social amenities, recreational centers and picturesque scenes that make it attractive not only to the tourists but also to those who find it a perfect place to call it home. As such, Barrie city remains a hot spot for property investors and the future of its real estate looks promising.