Residential sales activity in the geographical area covered by the REALTORS® Association of Grey Bruce Owen Sound totaled 302 units in July 2019. This was up 8.6% from July 2018. While this was not a record, it was just the fifth time in history that activity has topped the 300 mark in the month of July, marking a noticeable improvement from earlier this year. On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 1,547 units over the first seven months of the year, a decrease of 10.1% from the same period in 2018.
The average price of homes sold in July 2019 was $410,439, jumping 15.5% from July 2018. This was just the second time on record that the average home price in the region has surpassed $400,000, the only other time being an aberrant reading last August which was the result of one unusually expensive residential property sale. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $381,584, rising 11.1% from the first seven months of 2018.
New residential listings in the region numbered 448 units in July 2019, an increase of 23.4% on a year-over-year basis, albeit from a 25-year low last July. Overall supply remains close to record lows. Active residential listings numbered 1,119 units at the end of July, an increase of 15% from the end of July 2018 low but way below the same time in all other years on record going back to the late 1980s.
Months of inventory numbered 3.7 at the end of July 2019, up only slightly from the 3.5 months recorded at the end of July 2018 but well below the long-run average of 9.6 months for this time of year. 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.
The dollar value of all home sales in July 2019 was $124 million, surging 25.5% from the same month in 2018 to reach a new record for the month of July. Sales of all property types numbered 371 units in July 2019, up 6.6% from July 2018. The total value of all properties sold was $144.9 million, rising 22.1% from July 2018.
