The average sale price of a home in the London area decreased in March, ending eight straight months of steady increases.
Newly released figures from the London and St Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) show that the average price of a home sold in March was $823,954, a drop of $1,267 from February's record-breaking average price of $825,221.
It is the first time since July 2021 that home prices have declined in the London region. It is also an indication that the area's red hot housing market, which saw home prices shoot up by an extra $120,000 between December and February, may be cooling off.
“The sales-to-new-listings ratio for the entire jurisdiction of LSTAR was 67.9 per cent, much lower than a year ago, but still indicating a sellers’ market,” said 2022 LSTAR President Randy Pawlowski. “The latest interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada may have put a damper on what has been so far a truly fierce competition among local home buyers."
Pawlowski added that the provincial government's decision to increase the non-resident speculation tax to 20 per cent and make it province-wide might also help "tame" home prices going forward.
The average price for a single-family home in the London area was $894,306, while the average price of a condo was $692,187.
"Regarding condo townhouses, it’s interesting to see how well they are selling and how much their benchmark price has appreciated in the last year: last month was LSTAR’s second-best March for condominium sales," said Pawlowski.
LSTAR reported 1,049 homes changed hands last month, 756 were single-family homes, 140 were condo townhouses, and 107 were apartments. In total there were 1,544 homes listed, a new record-high for March listings since the association began tracking data in 1978.
“Despite the record number of listings, our inventory – the number of active listings at month end – saw just a slight increase from last month, creeping up from 0.5 months to only 0.6,” said Pawlowski.