Haliburton County real estate agent Andrea Strano said the Ford government putting the province back into a modified stage two circuit breaker will fuel the demand even more for a desire to be in cottage country.
Strano was commenting on real estate trends in 2021 and her predictions for 2022.
She said her RE/MAX Professional North brokerage December statistics showed a true indication of what happened all year in Haliburton County.
“The limited inventory has pushed our number of sales down by 60 per cent for single family non-waterfront properties, simply because ‘there is nothing to sell.’ Not surprisingly, this has caused the average sales price to rise to $678,000 for the month. The waterfront market is still holding strong with an average sales price of $1.069 million,” the report stated.
Strano said, “2021 was another whirlwind, record-breaking year for sales, both off-water residential and waterfront properties. Haliburton County saw trends similar to real estate markets in other areas across the country – a shift in property buying trends prompted by the pandemic.
“We saw low inventory in both the residential and cottage market and a growing demand in both sectors making it more difficult for buyers to obtain the property they desire.
“We usually see a lack of inventory during the winter months in a more balanced market regardless,” Strano said.
However, she predicted the start of 2022 will mimic 2021, especially with a fifth wave COVID modified lockdown. The Lakelands Association of Realtors also released statistics for the period ending November 2021 in late December.
The association includes Lakelands North, which has agents serving Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Highlands East, and Minden.
They said the trend is non-waterfront property sales taking off while waterfront purchases are starting to come back to more normal seasonal levels. It’s being reflected in higher sales prices for non-waterfront while waterfront prices are edging off.
Association president, Chuck Murney, said, “We are beginning to see diverging trends in our market between non-waterfront residential activity and waterfront properties. Non-waterfront activity is still going strong and posted the second-best November on record, while waterfront sales are back down to more normal seasonal levels.”
Murney added, “Trends in prices are also on divergent paths, as median price levels continue to rise to new records for nonwaterfront home sales, median prices have turned a corner and are edging off their highs for waterfront homes.”
The association said supply levels for both types of properties are still trending at their lowest on record.
By the numbers
The Lakelands Association of Realtors said 492 non-waterfront homes sold in November 2021, down 10.2 per cent from a record-breaking 2020. However, that was still nine per cent above the five-year and 18.8 per cent above the 10-year average for November.
Year-to-date, residential non-waterfront sales totaled a record 6,754 units over the first 11 months of the year, up 3.7 per cent from the same period in 2020.
There were 11 waterfront properties sold in November 2021, down 33.1 per cent from the same period in 2020 and more in line with historical averages for the month. They were 5.4 per cent below the five-year but one per cent above the 10-year average for the month. Year-to-date sales were 2,124 units, down 4.1 per cent from a record-breaking 2020.
When it comes to prices, the overall average was $632,300 in November 2021, up 31.4 per cent from November 2020. The benchmark price for single family homes jumped to $646,000, up 31.6 per cent on a November year-over-year basis.
The median price for residential non-waterfront in November 2021 was $701,000, up 31 per cent from November 2020. For 2020, it was $651,000, up 32.3 per cent from 2020s first 11 months,
For waterfront, it was $835,000 for November 2021, up 5.7 per cent from November 2020. Year-to-date, it was $907,650, up 29.7 per cent from the first 11 months of 2020.
The total dollar value of all residential non-waterfront sales in November 2021 was $391.7 million, a gain of 12.4 per cent from the same month in 2020. It was a new record for November. The total dollar value of all waterfront sales in November 2021 was $103.5 million, down sharply by 32.9 per cent from the same month in 2020.
