The average price of a home in the London and St. Thomas area continued to rise in 2019, as did the number of recorded home sales, according to new year-end figures released by the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR).
The agency says 10,125 homes were sold its jurisdiction over the course of the year — a 3.4-per cent increase over 2018. Of those sales, 469 occurred in December, LSTAR said.
“This is only the third time that sales surpassed 10,000 units,” LSTAR said in a release, noting the other two times were in 2016 and 2017.
LSTAR’s performance tracking dates to 1978. It’s jurisdiction includes London, St. Thomas, Middlesex and Elgin counties, as well as Strathroy.
The average cost of a house in London and St. Thomas for the year, meanwhile, climbed higher to $409,858 — 11.2 per cent higher than 2018, 24.4 per cent higher than 2017, and 49.3 per cent higher than 2016, according to LSTAR.
Segmenting the two cities, the average cost of a home in London alone for 2019 was $415,644, up around 11 per cent compared to 2018, while the average cost of a home in St. Thomas was $346,695, up 16.2 per cent compared to 2018.
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In a statement, Earl Taylor, LSTAR’s 2019 president, said sellers have the upper hand in the London and St. Thomas market when it comes to sales negotiations, noting that the overall sales-to-new-listings ratio was hovering around 70 per cent, but rose to 110 per cent by the end the year.
“It also speaks to the high buyer demand and the lack of local housing supply,” Taylor said.
LSTAR’s full report can be found below.
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