Guelph Area Home Sales Set New Record in December

Guelph and District Association of REALTORS® MLS® home sales set a new record in December.

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Guelph and District Association of REALTORS® totaled 260 units in December 2020. This was a large increase of 48.6% from December 2019 and was a new sales record for the month of December.

On an annual basis, home sales totaled 4,678 units over the course of 2020. This edged up 3.8% from the same period in 2019.

“Market activity in our region continued to set new monthly records in December,” said Sabrina Essery, President of the Guelph and District Association of REALTORS®. “Once again, new listings could not keep pace with the number of sales in December, reducing overall inventory to below 200 active listings for the first time in more than 30 years. The strength of demand combined with dwindling overall inventory is continuing to drive upward price momentum and sustaining the tightest market conditions our region has ever experienced.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $672,400, rising 19.6% in December 2020 compared to December 2019.

The benchmark price for single-family homes rose 19.5% to $696,600 on a year-over-year basis in December. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $495,500, advanced 21.3% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $394,300, increasing 17.1% from year-ago levels.

The dollar value of all home sales in December 2020 was $206 million, increasing substantially by 87.3% from the same month in 2019. This was also a new record for the month of December.

There were 179 new residential listings in December 2020 increasing 23.4% from the end of December 2019.

Active residential listings numbered 147 units at the end of December a significant decline of 54.8% from the end of December 2019. Active listings haven’t been this low in the month of December in more than three decades.

Months of inventory numbered 0.6 at the end of December 2020, down from the 1.9 months recorded at the end of December 2019 and below the long-run average of 2 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.

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