January Home Sales Slip

Last month, 305 homes exchanged hands in the jurisdiction of the London and St. Thomas Association of REALTORS® (LSTAR), including 245 detached homes (down 35% from January 2008) and 60 condos(down 31% from January 2008). “The decline in home sales last month is directly attributable to two factors: a drop in consumer confidence due to the down turn in the stock market, not to mention a government in apparent crisis and whole heck of a lot of snow and cold weather,” says Joe Hough, LSTAR President, “A bad month does not mean a bad year and our January 2008 numbers are only the third lowest for January in a decade where real estate sales broke record after record. When the dust on the global economic crisis settles . . . and the snow stops flying, what we’re going to see in London is a more balanced market, with more opportunities for buyers than there have been over the last several years.”