It may not come as a surprise to many people that last year was a record breaker for home sales in Guelph, with properties selling at a pace that may not be sustainable in 2017.

“As expected, home sales set a new annual record in 2016, topping the 3,000 mark for the first time ever,” Guelph and District Association of Realtors president Kim Hannah said in a news release. “Despite still very strong demand, it may prove a challenge to see as many sales in 2017 given that we started the year with just 131 properties listed for sale in the region.”

But in spite of low inventory experienced in the local housing market last year, sales numbers were high because homes were selling like hotcakes.

“The number of houses sold increased in 2016 at a pace faster than they could be listed,” said Hannah in an email response to a Mercury Tribune inquiry. “In a balanced market we could have anywhere from a three- to six-month supply of listings for sale, but in a strong seller’s market like we had in 2016 the people willing to buy homes in Guelph outpaced the number of people who were looking to sell.”

In 2016, the average number of days a property was on the market was 31, she said. A record 3,235 homes traded hands, up 8.7 per cent from 2015.

Also not surprising given the low inventory, home prices continued to rise.

December set a record with the average price of homes sold that month at $468,562, up 28.4 per cent from levels in December 2015. The annual average selling price was $426,563, a jump of 12.7 per cent from 2015.

December was also a record month in terms of the dollar value of residential sales, with $68.4 million in sales recorded, up 38.8 per cent from December 2015. This was the first time December sales exceeded the $60-million mark.

It’s probably not the news that first-time home buyers want to hear, but Hannah said without more people willing to put their homes on the market, prices will keep going up.

“If the market does not get some relief in the form of more new listings, the double-digit year-over-year price gains we’ve seen over the last eight months can be expected to continue well into the new year,” she said.

Low interest rates and an increase in buyers from places like the Greater Toronto Area are among the factors driving up the demand, she said.

Scarcity also begets scarcity, it seems, as potential sellers may be reluctant to list their homes for fear of not being able to find a suitable property to purchase.

“People who may be thinking of selling may not be able to find a home they would like to purchase, and therefore they do not list their property,” said Hannah, who is a sales representative with At Home Group Realty.

She said this type of market can be a challenge not just for buyers, but for realtors too.

“A strong seller’s market such as we have had for the past few years can mean some frustration on the part of buyers as properties are listed and sold very quickly, there is less to choose from and decisions need to be made quickly,” she said. “Counselling sellers can also be challenging when market prices are changing quite rapidly, so staying on top of information and helping them manage through this fast paced process is key.”

While recent mortgage changes – including a new mortgage rate stress test – have been implemented by the government with a view toward stabilizing the housing market and managing risk, Hannah said it’s still too early to tell just how those changes will impact local buyers.

“It seems possible that buyers who were stretching their limits to get into the market or a certain price bracket may need to rethink their options,” she said.