Guelph housing market slows in April as society follows public health guidelines

Guelph housing market slows in April as society follows public health guidelines.

According to statistics provided by the MLS® System of the Guelph and District Association of REALTORS®, home sales numbered 96 units in April 2020. This was a large decline of 69.5% from April 2019.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totalled 818 units over the first four months of the year. This was down 8.7% from the same period in 2019.

“Both sales and new listings slowed pretty sharply in April, which is in line with markets across the rest of the country as many buyers and sellers put their plans on hold and adhered to public health guidelines to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control,” said Matthew Bennett-Monty, President of the Guelph and District Association of REALTORS®. “Still, REALTORS® were deemed a non-health essential service to assist clients during this challenging time and have quickly adopted new technologies and have implemented strict sanitary protocols to help clients show and view properties.”

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 for Guelph and District was $594,300, up 9.7% in April 2020 compared to April 2019.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $608,700, up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis in April. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $437,900, rising 11.9% compared to a year earlier while the benchmark apartment price was $378,600, rising 15.1%.

The average price of homes sold in April 2020 was $582,563, up 7% from April 2019.

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