On May 12, Renfrew County Real Estate Board released last month’s sales figures. The average price of homes sold in April 2021 was $408,287, a substantial increase of 37.3 percent from April 2020. The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $390,549, a jump of 37.5 percent from the first four months of 2020.
The dollar value of all home sales in April 2021 was $142.9 million, more than double the levels from a year earlier, rocketing up 405.8 percent from the same month in 2020. This was a new record for the month of April and was also the largest dollar value of homes sold for any month in history.
Volume was up as well. The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Renfrew County Real Estate Board totaled 350 units — more than double the levels from a year earlier, surging 268.4 percent from April 2020 when sales were at their lowest for the month in over two decades. This was also a new sales record for the month of April and was the highest level for any month in history.
Home sales were 79.5 percent above the five-year average and 90.9 percent above the 10-year average for the month of April. On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled a record 888 units over the first four months of the year. This was more than double the levels from a year earlier, increasing 108.5 percent from the same period in 2020.
The number of new listings more than doubled the levels from a year earlier, surging 181.6 percent from the lows in April 2020. There were 397 new residential listings in April 2021. New listings were 16.4 percent above the five-year average and 0.6 percent below the 10-year average for the month of April.
Active residential listings numbered 260 units on the market at the end of April, down sharply by 47.8 percent from the end of April 2020. Active listings haven’t been this low in the month of April in more than 15 years. Months of inventory numbered 0.7 at the end of April 2021, down from the 5.2 months recorded at the end of April 2020 and below the long-run average of 5.8 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.
Martin,S.,Renfrew County Real Estate Board(2021,May12) Renfrew County Real Estate Board MLS® home sales rocket upward to highest month on record [media advisory]
Those statistics are highly skewed by much higher prices in Renfrew and points east within daily commuting distance of Ottawa and in Petawawa near CFB Petawawa and especially by the more modern ranch bungalows and winterized cottages plus residential sales have been greatly energized by the very low mortgage rates resulting from Covid-related monetary-easing by the Bank of Canada. Elsewhere in west Renfrew County you can still find quite good houses for lower prices but new listings do tend to go quickly. Look for a big slow-down in the residential market this Summer as the Covid pandemic subsides and the Bank of Canada raises interest rates quickly to cool the extreme overheating in residential prices in Toronto and Vancouver where a major asset-bubble is forming.