The Huron Perth Association of Realtors reported 232 homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service in April, 2021. That's more than double the levels from a year earlier, increasing 197.4% from April 2020. Home sales were 21.8% above the five-year average and 27.1% above the 10-year average for the month of April.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 722 units over the first four months of the year. This was a substantial increase of 50.1% from the same period in 2020. The benchmark price for single-family homes was $506,700, an advance of 39.7% on a year-over-year basis in April. By comparison, the benchmark apartment price was $478,900, an increase of 14.8% from year-ago levels. The average price of homes sold in April 2021 was a record $576,514, a jump of 61% from April 2020.
The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $554,494, a substantial gain of 36.8% from the first four months of 2020. The dollar value of all home sales in April 2021 was $133.8 million, more than double the levels from a year earlier, surging 379% from the same month in 2020. This was also a new record for the month of April.
"Sales posted one of the highest April levels in history, coming second only to the even stronger activity from April 2017," said Kathy Dawson, President of the Huron Perth Association of REALTORS®. "A surge in new listings hitting the market over the past few months has kept overall inventories from hitting near-zero levels. Make no mistake though, the persistent strength in demand is keeping this market in some of the tightest conditions in history. Competition among buyers for a record low supply of listings has now driven year-over-year benchmark price growth into the neighbourhood of 40%."
The number of new listings more than doubled the levels from a year earlier, increasing 196% from the lows in April, 2020. There were 296 new residential listings in April 2021. New listings were 20.3% above the five-year average and 0.6% above the 10-year average for the month of April. Active residential listings numbered 171 units on the market at the end of April, a substantial decline of 49% from the end of April 2020. Active listings haven't been this low in the month of April in more than three decades. Active listings were 54.1% below the five-year average and 76.7% below the 10-year average for the month of April.
Months of inventory numbered 0.7 at the end of April 2021, down from the 4.3 months recorded at the end of April 2020 and below the long-run average of 4.3 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.
