Hot activity at Ontario cottage country market is cooling down

It looks like cooling in Toronto housing market is starting to spread to the province’s cottage country.

“Step by step, sanity is coming back to our marketplace,” – says real estate veteran Annita Lanter. “You can feel that the wind is already changing.”

While the season is not yet in its full swing, real estate agents still sense that buyers are becoming more discerning. You can see offer dates come and go – sometimes even without any bids. In addition to it, some sellers are cutting their asking prices.

The cooldown follows an absolutely insane activity hike as buyers were competing for restrained inventory.

“The market didn’t just rise – it skyrocketed,” – she added.

In Ms. Lanter’s opinion, today’s doubts on the part of buyers can be partially explained by higher interest rates and inflation growth. Moreover, people also worry about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the on-going influence of the pandemic.

“You can feel the atmosphere of uncertainty at the market.”

Meanwhile there were many sales over the previous two years as people tried to cope with the pandemic.

“I think most of those who were planning to buy or sell have already bought or sold.”

Cottage owners were quite slow to list their properties during cold April.

However, some wonder whether the federal government’s ban for purchases by foreign buyers for two years will cool down the Muskoka market because Americans will not be able to buy summer houses in Canada. Although American buyers account for only a small share of the market, the ban will keep them away.

In case home prices go down, the real estate on the Big Three Muskoka lakes (Joseph, Rosseau and Muskoka) will probably hold their value. According to Ms. Lanter, some agents worry that certain buyers paid huge sums for cottages on small lakes in 2020 and 2021, and those areas really may see lower prices when the market cools down.

For instance, realtors say home prices have already started falling in Ramara township and other areas northeast of Toronto.

Last month, the median price fell from February’s $875,000 to $800,000, says Information Technology Systems Ontario. Nevertheless, the current slowdown follows strong competition and sharp price growth of the previous year.

In other words, sellers who got used to seeing record high prices need to temper their expectations these days.

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.