Average Peterborough home price was $424,148 for 2018

The average home price in Peterborough city and county for all of 2018 was $424,148, up 7.1 per cent from 2017, despite a 15 per cent drop in sales for the year.

Demand remains strong, as buyers in the GTA continue to look to areas further away like Peterborough for more affordable homes, while available listings are still in short supply. Sales for 2018 totalled 2,543 units.

There were 92 residential sales in December in the city and county, down 15.6 per cent from December 2017, at an average price of $369,715, down 6.1 per cent from a year ago, the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Association of Realtors reported this week.

“Under the new federal stress test on low-ratio mortgages, 2018 was a quieter year for home sales, not just in the Peterborough region but across much of Canada,” association president Kristi Doyle stated.

“That said, for much of Ontario, our region included, sales are arguably also being held back by an ongoing lack of available supply.”

There were 89 new listings in December, up 2.3 per cent from December 2017 but still well below almost every year on record, according to the association.

There were 317 active residential listings at the end of the year, up 12 per cent from the end of 2017, but still well below normal levels.

The residential months of inventory — the time it would take to sell current listing at current sales levels — stood at 3.4 at the end of the year, up from 2.6 at the end of 2017 but well below the normal average of nine months for this time of year.

Sales of all properties in December totalled 105, down 18 per cent from a year ago.

Meanwhile there were 36 new home starts in December, down 36 per cent from 56 a year earlier, in the Peterborough census metropolitan area, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this week.

For the year, there were 430 home starts, 274 single-family dwellings and 156 multiunit homes, according to CMHC’s seasonally adjusted figures.