Critical shortage of mid-priced homes: Barfoot

“The average selling price in January was $757,319, only $1572, or 0.2% lower than December’s all-time high price,” said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot and Thompson.

“A drop-off in the average price between December and January is normal as the market gradually builds new momentum after the holiday break, but this year properties held on to their high December values. There was greater variation in the median price, which at $700,000 for January was down $20,000 or 2.8% on that for December, which was an all-time high of $720,000.”

There were 859 homes sold by Barfoot and Thompson agents in January, in line with the number of sales in January 2014 and 2013.

Thompson said that indicated that the market was likely to remain firm through the first half of 2015.

“New listings at 1199 for the month were slightly down on those in January last year (a decline of 2.4% on 2014), but were sufficient to provide some choice for buyers. At month end we had 2899 properties for sale on our books, a small but welcome improvement over the 2500 properties for sale at the end of December. It was, however, 14% lower than listings at the end of January 2014."

A quarter of the homes sold in January went for under $500,000. Another 21% were sold for more than $1 million, up from the 10.7% in that price bracket in January 2014.

Thompson said the greatest competition for homes was in the $500,000 to $1 million price bracket. "This is where the majority of buyers are looking, and there is a critical shortage of potential properties available.”