A new house price survey shows home price increases continued in the London real estate market during the second quarter of the year.
The aggregate price of a home in the London market rose 11.6 per cent to $320,824 in the quarter, according to the survey from Royal LePage released on Thursday. Looking specifically at two-storey homes and bungalows, home prices increased 12.6 per cent to $353,832 and 10.7 per cent to $265,796, respectively.
The survey shows London and southwestern Ontario saw an active marketplace during the quarter, said Peter Meyer, owner and broker of record for Royal LePage Triland Realty.
“In June, we still saw, in London, 71 per cent of the homes that sold in June, sold for asking price or higher,” Meyer said. “We’re still in a very active marketplace, but we’re down a little bit from the frenzy that we saw at the end of April and the beginning of May.”
According to the survey, southern Ontario saw the highest home price increases in the country due to strong housing demand resulting. Employment in the province rose 1.1 per cent over the twelve months ended in June, while unemployment was 6.4 per cent within the same month, the survey said.
Meyer said more record sales are being forecast in the London market.
“When I say record sales I think we’re going to be selling more homes each month for the remainder of this year, compared to what we sold last year, which at that point in time we were having record months as well,” he said.
“It’s just simply a matter of the demand for people wanting to live in the London marketplace and surrounding areas.”
Elsewhere in the province, the survey found home price increases of 17.7 per cent in Niagara/St. Catharines, 20.7 per cent in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge, and 15.9 per cent in Windsor.
“We certainly are still at a much higher pace of sales than what we have seen over the last number of years,” Meyer said. “It’s still a very good market for people to be looking at selling or buying in, so take advantage of the market that’s there.”
Nationally, the price of a home in Canada rose 13.8 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter to $609,411.