Average home price dips to $813,714 in April

Peterborough city and county’s red-hot real estate market cooled off a bit in April now that mortgage rates are on the rise from their record lows.

The Peterborough and the Kawarthas Association of Realtors reported 219 residential unit sales in April, down 28.9 per cent from a year ago but close to the long-term average sales for April.

The average price in April was $813,714, down about 6.2 per cent from March’s average of $864,208 but up 18.9 per cent from April 2021.

The year-to-date average price is $848,149, up 22.4 per cent from the first four months of last year.

“Sales activity was down from last year’s very strong April to more average levels for this time of year,” association president Kate Kidd stated.

“New listings came in at a healthy level in April, raising overall inventories from historical lows. Price gains remain strong and will likely continue to do so for the next few months, but it’s the bigger picture over the remainder of the year and the coming interest rates increases that we’re really looking at to see how the market plays out.”

The overall MLS HPI composite/ single family benchmark price, which excludes higher and lower end properties, was $793,500 in April, up 31.5 per cent from a year ago.

There were 383 new residential listings in April, down 8.6 per cent from April 2021 but higher than a typical April.

Active listings at the end of April totalled 244, up 1.2 per cent from a year ago.

At the current sales pace, it would take less than five weeks to sell off the inventory. The long-run average for this time of year is 2.8 months.

The cooling off in sales, coupled with continued near-record high prices, was experienced in most communities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe area in April.

The Kawartha Lakes Real Estate Association reported 125 residential sales in April, down 31.3 per cent from a year ago, with an average price of $882,400 and an MLS HPI composite/single-family benchmark of $783,100 — up 32.5 per cent from a year ago.

The Northumberland Hills Association of Realtors reported 95 residential sales in April, down 30.1 from a year ago, with an average price of $984,603, up 13.1 per cent from a year ago, and an MLS HPI composite/single-family benchmark of $855,300 — up 33.2 per cent from a year ago.

Even in Bancroft the average price was $581,884, up 6.4 per cent from a year ago, with a year-to-date average of $622,749, up 17.9 per cent from the first four months of 2021.