Home sales in the region dropped in August, but local a local realtor said it's only down compared to several record-breaking months beginning mid-2020.
"While sales activity was certainly down a fair amount from last year, we're comparing against astronomically high record levels during the rebound of 2020," said Matthew Lidbetter, president of the Southern Georgian Bay Association of Realtors, in a news release.
According to data from MLS compiled by the association, there were 397 units sold in August 2021 for a dollar value of $339 million. This is a reduction of 34.6 per cent in the number of units and 14.6 per cent in dollar value over August 2020.
Year-to-date, home sales are still up in the region. There were 3,294 units sold in the first eight months of 2021, which is up by 15.6 per cent compared to 2020.
In the western half of the region (Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, Meaford, and Grey Highlands) there were 228 units sold in August 2021, which is down 43 per cent from the same month last year.
In the eastern half of the region (Midland, Penetanguishene, Tay, Tiny, Severn, and Georgian Bay) there were 169 units sold in August 2021, which is down 17 per cent compared to the same month last year.
"New listings haven't returned to the market in strong enough numbers to keep up with demand, a story that has been playing out for some time now," stated Lidbetter in the news release. "Overall inventories continue trending at record lows and the market is still firmly on the side of sellers."
There were 491 new listings in August 2021, which is the lowest number of new listings for the month of August in five years.
