The London-area housing market was significantly less active in June, according to real estate experts.
On Wednesday, the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) released its June figures, and they appear to show that the real estate market is shifting from a seller's market to a buyer's market.
A pair of new records were broken last month. LSTAR reported that while the number of new listings was the highest ever for June, sales were the lowest for June in the last decade.
The local housing supply increased to 2.7 months of inventory in June compared to only 1.7 months for May. A total of 1,727 houses were put on the market last month, and keys to 663 of them changed hands.
"Our local market is cooling off rapidly, but home prices don't follow suit as fast," said 2022 LSTAR President Randy Pawlowski.
The average local price of a home for sale was $686,287, down from May's $762,397. Pawlowski noted that this value is still 10.1 per cent higher than recorded in June 2021. He added that the three recent interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada have created some "downward pressure" on prices, but low supply is keeping them elevated.
"Even if the number of months of inventory increased to almost three, this value is still lower than normal. In a balanced market, the inventory should sit at 3.5 or 4 months," Pawlowski said.
Most of June's sales were comprised of single-family homes, while 140 of the transactions were for apartments and condos.
This table shows June's average home sales prices in LSTAR’s main regions compared to benchmark prices. Table by LSTAR.