Market
Market
Muskoka Real Estate – 2023 Year End Review
The data is all in from the Lakelands Association of Realtors® for 2023 for both waterfront and residential properties. We also have the numbers specifically for the Muskoka region including individual charts for Lake Joseph, Lake Rosseau, Lake Muskoka and Lake of Bays.
It continues to clearly be a tale of two markets, particularly with Muskoka cottages. As I mentioned in earlier posts, the market for luxury cottages over $3,000,000 continues to be very strong. If we look at the charts to the right you can see that sales of high-end cottages are actually well above the 5 year average. In contrast, sales of cottages below $3,000,000 have dried up to a point not seen in over a decade.
This continued dichotomy in the market continues to strongly skew published overall median and average prices with the luxury waterfront segment now accounting for approximately 1/3 of all dollars spent on cottages.
The Lakelands Board
Here are the stats for the entire Lakelands Board, keeping in mind it covers a huge area*.
In December 2023, the MLS® System for the Lakelands region reported a noteworthy downturn in residential non-waterfront sales, with a total of 162 units—reflecting a substantial decrease of 12.4% compared to the corresponding period in 2022.
The residential non-waterfront sales figures for December were markedly below the averages, with a deviation of 35.6% from the five-year average and 35.9% from the 10-year average.
Over the entire year of 2023, residential non-waterfront sales amounted to 4,162 units, indicating an 8.8% decline from the previous year, 2022.
In the same month, December 2023, sales of waterfront properties reached 25 units, marking a modest increase of 4.2% (equivalent to one sale) from December 2022.
Muskoka Cottage Sales Over $3,000,000
Muskoka Cottage Sales Under $3,000,000
In December 2023, the benchmark price for single-family homes dipped by 4.4% year-over-year, settling at $681,600. In contrast, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units experienced a more pronounced decline, reaching $554,400, down by 8.8% compared to the preceding year. Meanwhile, the benchmark apartment price demonstrated resilience, recording a moderate gain of 5.7%, resting at $468,700 from year-ago levels.
The median price for residential non-waterfront property sales in December 2023 was $630,000, reflecting an 8% decrease from the corresponding month in 2022. On an annual scale, the more encompassing median price for residential non-waterfront properties was $675,000, indicating a 6.3% decline from the entirety of 2022.
Conversely, the median price for waterfront property sales in December 2023 surged to $999,999, marking a substantial 30.7% increase from December 2022. The broader annual median price for waterfront properties, however, was $950,000, revealing a modest decrease of 4.5% from the entire year of 2022.
In terms of total dollar value, all residential non-waterfront sales in December 2023 amounted to $116.8 million, indicating a significant contraction of 19.4% compared to the same month in 2022. In stark contrast, the total dollar value of all waterfront sales in December 2023 experienced a substantial surge, reaching $33 million—an impressive gain of 39.9% from the corresponding month in 2022.
* Lakelands includes parts of Severn and Georgian Bay Townships; Wasaga Beach, Clearview Township, Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, and portions of the Municipality of Meaford, Grey Highlands. As well as Towns of Midland and Penetanguishene, the Townships of Tay, and Tiny. In the heart of Canada's Cottage Country; Parry Sound, Muskoka, Haliburton, Orillia, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Muskoka Lakes, Huntsville, and Lake of Bays.