Housing market cooled northeastern Ont. in 2023

Home sales in some major markets in northeastern Ontario fell sharply last year, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association. (File)

Home sales in some major markets in northeastern Ontario fell sharply last year, according to the Ontario Real Estate Association.

The biggest drop was in Timmins, where sales were down 32.8 per cent compared to December 2022.

“Home sales were 44.4 per cent below the five-year average and 36.6 per cent below the 10-year average for the month of December,” the CREA said in a news release.

“On an annual basis, home sales totaled 1,172 units over the course of 2023. This was down by 26.1 per cent from 2022.”

The average price of homes sold in December 2023 was $250,988, a decrease of 8.3 per cent from a year earlier.

“The number of new listings fell sharply by 35.4 per cent from December 2022,” the CREA said.

“There were 53 new residential listings in December 2023. This was the lowest number of new listings added in the month of December in more than 15 years.”

In North Bay, home sales for December 2023 actually rose by four compared to 2022, but sales were still 29.5 per cent below the five-year average.

“On an annual basis, home sales totaled 1,013 units over the course of 2023,” the news release said.

“This was down sharply by 11 per cent from 2022.”

The average price of homes sold in December 2023 was $401,168, an increase of 18.7 per cent from December 2022. The more comprehensive annual average price was $434,617, a moderate decrease of 5.9 per cent from all of 2022.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

In Sudbury, meanwhile, home sales were down 6.5 per cent compared to December 2022, and overall sales were down 27.4 per cent compared to the five-year average. A total of 2,306 units were sold in 2023, a decrease of 18.9 per cent from 2022.

“The average price of homes sold in December 2023 was $444,418, a sizable gain of 19.3 per cent from December 2022,” the CREA said.

“The more comprehensive annual average price was $457,490, decreasing by 1.7 per cent from all of 2022.”

Statistics for Sault Ste. Marie have not been updated since September.