According to the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR), a “quiet December wrapped up a modest year” for home sales, dropping to a new all-time low record seen in the past decade.
“The last month of 2022 was the December with the lowest number of home sales recorded by LSTAR in the last decade. And, overall, 2022 saw the second-lowest number of home sales since 2012,” said Randy Pawlowski, 2022 LSTAR president.
“No one could have predicted that at the beginning of the year when the local housing market peaked, fuelled by the lingering pandemic and its socio-economic effects. Once the economy started to get back on track and the Bank of Canada began increasing its benchmark rate, the dynamics of the local housing market changed drastically.
“One could say that, for LSTAR Members, 2022 came in as a roaring lion and went out like a lamb.”
Only 299 residential properties “exchanged hands” last month, which is down from 451 properties in November.
While residential transactions were at their second-lowest point in the last decade, the number of new listings climbed to 14,126, the second-highest yearly total during the same time frame, LSTAR reported. As of New Year’s Eve, this brought the number of months of inventory to 3.8.
Pawlowski explained that last month’s “sales-to-new listings ratio sat at 74.6, which shows that housing demand is still high in our area.”
“With the increased levels of inventory, local buyers have now more choices and time to shop for new homes,” he said. “However, the considerable loss of affordability triggered by the successive interest rate hikes continues to challenge local buyers. On the supply side, many homeowners are reluctant to list their properties, given the recent drops in average and HPI benchmark prices.”
Compared with 2021, LSTAR’s average home prices saw a decrease, but still remained higher than figures seen prior to 2020.
“Year-to-date, the overall average price of LSTAR sat at $724,583,” the report said.
In December, LSTAR’s overall average home price sat at $612,770, 14 per cent lower compared with a year ago, but 10.5 per cent higher than in December 2020.
Similarly, the HPI Benchmark Price was $566,600 last month, 15.1 per cent down from last year, but 17.1 per cent higher than in the final month of 2020.
“When compared to other values recorded provincially and nationally, the homes in our area are reasonably priced,” Pawlowski said.
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