Real Estate Blog | Page #3

In February 2023, the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) recorded only 436 residential transactions, thus marking the lowest number of February home sales seen by LSTAR since 1995.

Despite the sluggish sales, 761 new listings entered the market during the same time frame, bringing the number of active listings to 1,320 by month-end. The overall sales-to-new listings ratio for the entire jurisdiction of LSTAR was 57.3%.

Compared to February 2022, both the overall average home price and the composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Benchmark Price were significantly lower, down 24.2% and 25.1%, respectively. Despite this, both metrics saw a modest month-over-month growth. LSTAR's overall average home price was…

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In January 2023, only 344 residential transactions were recorded via the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR). This makes last month the January with the lowest number of home sales seen by LSTAR since 2009.

During the same period, 823 new listings came on the market, thus bringing the number of active listings at month’s end to 1,261. The overall sales-to-new listings ratio for the entire jurisdiction of LSTAR sat at 41.8%.

“At a first glance, all these figures seem to indicate a cooling market, with a healthier housing supply. With 3.7 months of inventory, decreasing house prices, and a sales-to-new-listings ratio under 50%, home buyers could appear as favoured. However, when taking into consideration the…

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299 residential properties exchanged hands last month in the jurisdiction of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR), bringing the total number of homes sold through the Association’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in 2022 to 7,639.

"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, fueled 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…

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451 residential properties exchanged hands last month through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR), 44% less than in November 2021. LSTAR Members' home sales included 336 single family homes, 64 condo townhouses, and 36 apartments – all significantly down from a year ago.

“In the last two years, the local housing market’s frenzy was artificially fueled by the socio-economic climate of the pandemic. Now, that the socio-economic conditions are completely different, the local housing market is in correction mode,” said Randy Pawlowski, 2022 LSTAR President. “The market is especially affected  by the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hikes, which intensify buyer reluctance and weaken…

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In October 2022, the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) saw 975 new listings and 504 home sales. While October’s new listings were on par with the average value recorded for the month of October throughout the last decade, the monthly home sales were at their lowest point in the last ten years.

“This year’s successive increases in interest rates put a big dent in the local home sales activity and made the year-over-year price values plunge. However, it’s not all bad news: LSTAR’s sales-to-new listings ratio increased from 42.4% in September to 51.7% in October, which indicates a more balanced market. Moreover, the overall average home price in the London-St. Thomas region was a bit higher in October than during…

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The local housing market continued to cool off in September, with 497 homes exchanging hands via the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS®(LSTAR). Housing supply made a healthy gain from 2.7 months of inventory in August to 3.4 months of inventory in September, showing more signs of market stabilization.

"An additional interest rate hike, the fifth one so far in 2022, continues to impact home sales activity," said 2022 LSTAR President Randy Pawlowski. "We are experiencing increased inventory levels, indicating a more balanced marketplace. For historical perspective, the 3.4 months of inventory is the highest recorded for the month of September, since September 2015."

The average home sales price and composite MLS® Home…

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The number of homes sold in the jurisdiction of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR) fell by 34.8% in August from the same month last year, but saw an increase over the previous month, which indicates a soft landing of the local real estate market. More specifically, 607 residential transactions were recorded last month by LSTAR’s MLS® System - 324 less than a year ago, but up by 93 units from July.

“The softness seen over the last few months in the local real estate market was, undoubtedly, caused by the continuous rise in the mortgage interest rates, which has translated into higher borrowing costs,” said 2022 LSTAR President Randy Pawlowski. “However, the sales-to-new listings ratio, which reflects the share of new listings out…

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The local housing market continued to cool off in July, with 514 homes exchanging hands via the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR). The housing supply made a steady gain from 2.8 months of inventory in June to 3.6 months of inventory in July, signaling movement toward a more balanced market. 

"With rising interest rates, July saw home sales activity continue to slow down," said Randy Pawlowski, 2022 LSTAR President. "Inventory has increased, showing more signs of a balanced market. The 3.6 months of inventory in July is in line with the months of inventory recorded during the same month in 2014 and 2015." 

While LSTAR's composite MLS® Home Price Index Benchmark Price of $624,400 was down 3.7% from June, this…

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1,727 new residential listings and 663 home sales were recorded in June 2022 in the London-St. Thomas area via the MLS® System of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR).  The local housing supply increased from only 1.7 months of inventory in May to 2.8 months of inventory in June. 

"While the number of new listings is the highest ever recorded by LSTAR in the month of June, the number of June home sales is at its lowest point in the last ten years," said Randy Pawlowski, 2022 LSTAR President. "Our local market is cooling off rapidly, but home prices don't follow suit as fast," he added. 

LSTAR's composite MLS® Home Price Index Benchmark Price was down 7.8% from May, decreasing from $703,300 in May to $648,500 last month.…

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In May 2022, 1,835 new residential listings were posted on the MLS® System of the London and St Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR), more than in any previous May in the Association’s history. The local housing supply increased from only 1.2 months of inventory in April to 1.7 months of inventory in May.

Sales, on the other hand, were more on par with those from the former decade, with only 844 homes exchanging hands last month in LSTAR’s jurisdiction.

“Even if in May the sales-to-new listings ratio dropped to 46%, a figure that, typically, indicates a market that tends to favour home buyers, benchmark and average prices saw only modest month-over-month declines,” said Randy Pawlowski, 2022 LSTAR President. “Compared to last year’s figures, both…

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