/https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/content/dam/localcommunities/kawartha_lakes_this_week/news/2022/02/10/kawartha-lakes-real-estate-market-action-ebbs-as-inventory-hits-historic-low/10570038_KL_real_estate_Oct_2021.jpg)
The Kawartha Lakes real estate market is off to a slow start for the year thanks to a chronic lack of inventory, carrying over from 2021 and reaching a new record low last month.
There were just 49 new residential listings added to the market in January according to the Canadian Real Estate Association statistics for the Kawartha Lakes Real Estate Association, a decline of 46.2 per cent from the same time last year and almost 50 per cent blow the 10-year average for January. By the end of the month, there were only 27 active residential listings, down 63.5 per cent from January 2021 and more than 88 per cent below 10-year averages. The months it would take to sell available inventory by the end of January was just 0.6, compared to 1.1 months in 2021 and a long-run average of 4.5 months at this time of year.
The persistently low levels of inventory in the local market would seem to have caught up with home sales in January, following a very hot year in 2021 where almost any home that went on the market was selling quickly, often well above asking. January of 2022 saw 45 residential units sold through MLS, a decline of 32.8 per cent from the same month last year and around 14 per cent below the 10-year average.
It follows that the total dollar amount of homes sold in January, $35.1 million, was a substantial decrease of more than 20 per cent from the same month in 2021.
The scarcity in the market continues to drive up house prices, with the MLS Home Price Index composite/single family benchmark price was up more than 40 per cent to $693,100.
