The year started with 19 the last time home sales in towns along Georgian Bay were this low in August. The prices, however, are still firmly in the 2020s range.
That's according to the Lakelands Association of Realtors president Bonnie Looby, and MLS data for Georgian Bay shoreline towns for the month of August 2024.
"Sales of both waterfront and non-waterfront homes came in at subdued levels in August, reaching their lowest levels for this month since before the millennium," said Looby, in a news release. "Home of both types are generally taking longer to sell and prices are overall still on the decline. With new listings near all-time records for this time of year and overall supply still at elevated levels, it appears that buyers and sellers are still having a hard time aligning on pricing expectations."
Last month there were 351 non-waterfront and 121 waterfront homes sold in the Lakelands region, which is a decrease of 15 and 14 per cent respectively compared to August last year.
Non-waterfront sales are about 32 per cent below the five-year average and 35 per cent below the 10 year average. Year-to-date, there have been 2,836 non-waterfront and 767 waterfront homes sold in 2024, which is down eight per cent and 1.4 per cent compared to the first eight months of 2023.
The Lakelands region wraps around Georgian Bay with Collingwood, Clearview, The Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands, Meaford and Wasaga Beach in the western portion of the region.
In the West, the median price of a non-waterfront home sold in August, 2024, was $699,900, up from $690,000 in August, 2023. There were 113 non-waterfront sales in the west in August, down 16 per cent from last year.
There were 11 waterfront homes sold in the western part of the region last month, with a median sale price of $860,000.
The home price index, calculated by MLS, shows the composite benchmark price for a home in Lakelands was $711,400 in August, 2024, which is 2.4 per cent lower than it was in August last year.
In the central portion of Lakelands, which includes Midland, Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Penetanguishene, Ramara, Springwater, Tay and Tiny Township, the median price of a non-waterfront home sold last month was $680,950, which is up by 1.3 per cent compared to last year. It's the only part of the region that saw growth in median price.
There were 158 homes sold in the central area last month, down 18 per cent from 194 homes sold in August last year.
There were 19 waterfront homes sold in the central area of the region, down from 21 in August, 2023, with a median waterfront price of $1,235,000.
The total dollar value of all residential non-waterfront sales in August 2024 was $258.1 million, a sharp decrease of 16.1% from the same month in 2023.
The total dollar value of all waterfront sales in August in Lakelands was $130.4 million and for non-waterfront the total value was $258 million. These totals are down by 25.8 per cent and 16 per cent respectively when compared to August, 2023.
Across the province, Ontario home prices were stable in August by comparison with July, continuing a trend of broad stability set in February, figures released Monday by the Canadian Real Estate Association show.
On a year-over-year basis, the average single-family home in the province sold for $955,000 in August, down 5.2 per cent from the average of $1,013,400 they sold for in August of 2023.
The numbers are seasonally adjusted and do not take inflation into account.
Inflation, depending on what measure you choose, is running at between 3.4 and 3.7 per cent.
“Despite some fledgling signs of life to kick off the long-awaited monetary policy easing cycle, Canadian housing market activity still looks to be stuck in the same holding pattern it’s been in all year,” CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said in a release.
On a province-wide basis, prices for condos in a year-over-year comparison fell 7.5 per cent, and townhouses fell 5.6 per cent.
“With more interest rate cuts now expected between now and next summer, the stage is set for a faster return of demand, but we’re clearly not there just yet,” CREA chair James Mabey said in a release.
Within Ontario, sales in the north continued to show stronger growth than those elsewhere in the province — single-family homes in Sault Ste. Marie were up 3.7 per cent year-over-year, and those in North Bay were up 4.5 per cent.
Locally in the Lakelands real estate area in August, single-family house prices were down 1.4 per cent, condos were down 2.2 per cent, and townhouses were down 3.5 per cent compared to August of 2023, using seasonally adjusted numbers unadjusted for inflation.
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