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March home sales on the rebound

Our local housing market continued its recovery last month, with 859 homes exchanging hands. 702 detached homes sold in March, up 27.4% from the previous year, along with 157 condos, an increase of 33.1%. This marks a return to pre-Recession levels. (It’s important to note that home sales last March were down over 22%.)

“The stats have been up for six months running,” says Richard Thyssen, 2010 LSTAR President. “Listings are up as well, 20.6% for detached homes and 6.3% for condos.

That’s good news for our Spring market and for our local economy as a whole, given the considerable economic spin-off of real estate sales.”

61 homes sold in London’s Sister City of St. Thomas in March, up 10.9% over last year, for the average price of $181,787. “In the case of both St. Thomas and London, it’s a question of recovering lost ground rather than any kind of boom,” says Thyssen.

“That’s the beauty of this market. It’s resilient. In 2009, which was a bad year for everyone, we saw a dip in sales of only 3.42% overall, compared to 2008. Now, we’re pretty much back where we were before the financial meltdown & gaining momentum.”

An increase in average house price also points to recovery. Year-to-date the average price of a detached home was up 8.3% to $239,101; while the average price of a condo yearto- date was up 15% to $170,303.

Despite price gains, London remains affordable when compared to other Canadian centres.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association’s Major Market MLS® Statistical Survey for January 2010 (the most current available), the average price year-to-date for:

• London and St. Thomas $225,983
• Calgary $397,518
• Durham Region $289,195
• Edmonton $317,920
• Hamilton-Burlington & District $287,414
• Kitchener-Waterloo $296,735
• Ottawa $318,425
• St. Catharine’s & District $239,152
• Toronto $409,058
• Greater Vancouver $639,074